Devil's Advocate
by livezinshadowz
Summary: An accidental meeting brings Zetsu into Naruto's life as his tutor. With Zetsu intending to sway Naruto to his own philosophy of "the only one you can rely on is yourself", Naruto discovers that the world isn't as black and white as his tutor is, that there are at least two sides to every story, and that he has a lot to learn. Hints of NaruIno and NaruTen
1. Truth & Lies

**Disclaimer: **I don't own _Naruto_.

**Author's Note:** Hello all, and welcome to my new project. Most of you are probably here because of The Cost of Living…this story will be a bit different. The only thing you should be aware of is that this Zetsu is NOT canon!Zetsu. He will have roughly the same personality and techniques, but his history is not the same; nor is he a member of Akatsuki.

That said, please enjoy, and feel free to review and let me know what you think. If you have any questions, go ahead and ask, and I will answer them in a PM to the best of my ability.

-l-l-l-

_When faced with that which you don't know the answer, is it the honest bluntness of truth or the comforting deception of lies you seek?_

-l-l-l-

The Land of Fire was a country renowned for its dense foliage and warm climate. Trees grew in excess of hundreds of feet tall, creating a dense canopy which offered shady respite from the sweltering heat of the sun. Thick limbs branched out from tree trunks, creating a web of fulcrums and resting points that ninja – whether citizens of Konohagakure or invaders from foreign nations – often used for speedy traveling.

In all honesty, it was Zetsu's favorite place to visit.

'Visit', of course, was a rather loose term, especially considering that Zetsu was a nukenin, a rogue shinobi. Fortunately, his former home of Kusagakure – the Village Hidden in Grass – had never disclosed to the rest of the world that he was missing, so Zetsu found himself able to freely enjoy the bounties of the world around him.

...For the most part, anyway. Two major obstacles prevented him from being able to experience complete freedom. Firstly was the fact that Kusa, while unwilling to reveal its soiled hands to the world by announcing Zetsu's existence, was _still _trying to hunt him down. The ninja of the Grass weren't exactly renowned for their skill, and while leading them on a wild goose chase was highly entertaining to one part of the nukenin, knowing that they were always out looking for him was a bit of a mood-killer. Still, he was able to evade them easily for the most part, and had even managed to make a good meal out of their foolhardiness several times in the past, so it wasn't exactly an all-bad situation.

No, the real issue was that if Zetsu ever tried to enter a village like a regular person, an attempt would be made to either capture or kill him on the spot, no questions asked. Being careful to avoid others was something the former Grass shinobi did on a regular basis. His appearance was, mildly put, disturbing to people.

His skin was dual-colored, the left side a pure, snow white, the right side pitch black; there was no fading of hue, just a straight line of change which bisected his body, splitting the two colors down its entire length (barring his feet, which were, strangely enough, both white). Small white nubs lined his body on the black half, parallel to the bisecting line. The man's face reflected the duality of his skin: the only feature on the black half was a pupil-less yellow eye, wide and unblinking; the white side's eye was normal – white sclera, yellow iris – accompanied by a brow, lid, and pupil. Part of a nose was visible on the white side, set above half a mouth filled with rounded teeth. His hair was a light green, the color of cut grass, and encasing his body was a gigantic Venus Fly Trap, the green jaws poised to shut over his head.

Needless to say, Zetsu struck a terrifying figure.

He had learned to accept his appearance after a time, mainly because of the great gifts that came with it. One of them – _**Kagerō**_, or Mayfly – allowed Zetsu to merge with any plant life, or even the ground (through plant roots), and travel through those mediums at incredible speeds. It was why he never needed to enter a village through conventional means and why the Land of Fire appealed to his nature – there were simply so many things he could meld into that his options were practically infinite. Plus, as a (former) Hidden Grass shinobi, he was well-versed and interested in different flora, so the wide variety present in the area also fascinated him.

He told himself that the fact that these particular surroundings made his plant-side most comfortable had nothing to do with why he frequented the area as often as he did. That would be admitting that that part of him had a say in how he lived, and the two personalities he already possessed were quite enough as it was.

"I'm hungry," he whined aloud childishly. There was no external response (which was expected), but after a moment of silent debate, the plant-man decided that he was going to indulge himself. While he could go for long stretches of time by either stealing food or feasting off the lay of the land, Zetsu also required fresh human flesh to sate his appetite at times. Normally, Konoha's citizens were relatively well-protected, and Zetsu honestly found it too troublesome to infiltrate the village, pick off a human, and either get engaged in battle with said human (because the nukenin enjoyed the taste of shinobi better than civilians) or risk being discovered and swarmed by other ninja. But sometimes there were extenuating circumstances, and it had been a _long_ time since he had eaten any Konoha-nin... "I wonder if they still have that nice tangy flavor the last one had..."

He looked over to see a shrub of dahlias. Though _hanakotoba_ – the language of flowers – was not one of his more knowledgeable plant subjects, he did know that dahlias represented 'good taste'. The irony of the flowers' meaning struck him as lucky, even if he was intentionally interpreting the meaning of 'taste' to be 'delicious' instead of 'refined perception'. A dark laugh resonated from him as the Venus Fly Trap closed and he sank into the earth.

-l-l-l-

Zetsu had found his target. He was a short boy, not yet into his teenage years, with messy blonde hair held back by a pair of big green goggles. His choice in clothing was terrible – an orange jumpsuit with a thick white collar, clashing terribly with his bright hair – and even Zetsu, who stood out like a sore thumb in his own right, couldn't believe that the boy had lived for so long wearing something that just screamed 'Kill me!' But if the outfit insisted, Zetsu would be happy to oblige.

It wasn't that the blonde was his first choice; children were often unfulfilling as far as meals went. But Konoha was a crowded place, and after discreetly watching passersby from the safety of an oak tree for almost 15 minutes, Zetsu had given up on trying to pick a meal off the street. He had then moved on to the outskirts of the mighty village, scouting out the training fields in the vain hope of finding someone. Previous visits had taught him that Leaf shinobi normally visited the fields in teams – Genin with a Jōnin instructor, for instance – or pairs – Chūnin or Jōnin – so the odds of finding a victim alone had been relatively small.

But lo and behold, Zetsu had been presented with this boy, kicking and punching a post with all his might (which was arguably not much). While the child didn't appear to pose much in the way of a decent meal, people-watching had increased the plant-man's desire for food to a point where being picky was no longer an option. Besides, he could always try again after this appetizer.

It was a bit of an anomaly, Zetsu considered as he merged into the ground, that this boy was by himself. Most Konoha shinobi believed in camaraderie and the Will of Fire, a faith Zetsu personally found to be misguided. The former Kusa-nin upheld the principle that the only person one could rely on was one's self. To find a boy – clearly on the path to become a ninja, if not one already (though foregoing the wearing of the traditional forehead protector if he was one) – who seemed to embrace Zetsu's philosophy and not the popular one of the village intrigued the plant-man.

That the boy was going to be his meal was surely a pitiable coincidence.

_Feeding time!_

-l-l-l-

Uzumaki Naruto punched the training post in front of him, venting his anger through his fists. Today had been one of those days where nothing had seemed to go his way. First, Sakura had turned him down _again_ when he had asked her for a date, and had then proceeded to ignore his existence for the remainder of the day. Then the class had had taijutsu practice, where Sasuke had thoroughly outclassed him and made him look bad in front of everyone (which, of course, included Sakura). After that, Iruka had yelled at him for a solid five minutes for falling asleep during class, giving him an hour's detention (amidst the tittering of his classmates) for his inattention.

But what could he do? Sakura liked Sasuke (though he couldn't really understand _why_), and Naruto _hated_ people like the stuck-up Uchiha, so he wasn't going to try to change himself to be more like _him_, even if it was to get the girl. He had been alone for all his life, with no family or clan to teach him any special ninja techniques or styles, so finding a way to improve his skills to beat anyone else in his class was rather difficult. And it wasn't his fault that history was boring!

All-in-all, Naruto found it almost impossible for the day to get any worse. He placed his hands on his knees and scowled at the ground, mad at the unfairness of the world.

It was the only thing that saved him from certain death.

Naruto stumbled backwards and tripped over his own feet as a pair of enormous green jaws burst forth from the earth and snapped shut where he had just been standing. There had been no real warning to the attack except that the ground had bulged slightly, outlining a jagged, teeth-like pattern on whatever was surfacing. That and years of avoiding being captured by the people he pulled pranks on had taught the blonde to act first, ask questions later, and one panicked decision later, he was sitting on his rear, still alive.

The green thing in front of him growled. It opened to reveal a man's face – if it could be called that – with yellow eyes and green hair, his skin an even split of black and white. "You moved," whined the human...creature..._thing_. The thing's voice was sort of immature and decidedly masculine, if a tad younger-sounding than Naruto would have expected. "How did he see us?"

"Wh-what are you?" stammered Naruto, pointing a shaky finger straight at the man. The man's reference to himself as more than one person went unnoticed.

**"Who," **corrected a different voice, this one dark, throaty, and tainted with malice. Naruto looked around, half-expecting to see something else emerging from the ground prepared to eat him. Spying nothing, he returned his gaze to the man in front of him in time to see the white side's eye blink in mild confusion. "We are Zetsu," spoke the first voice, seemingly offended, "and we are a 'who', not a 'what'." The man's mouth moved when this voice spoke, so Naruto assumed he was actually speaking, though it didn't explain where the other voice came…from…

"We?" Naruto managed weakly. "There's more than one of you?" Then, "What?"

**"We are a person, and therefore a 'who',"** snarled the darker voice. Watching the so-called person, Naruto noticed that unlike when the lighter voice spoke, the white side's mouth didn't move for this other voice.

It was just a guess, but... "A-are you the black side?"

**"...Can we eat him ****now****? He's irritating me. **I don't want to," replied the white side, and Naruto heaved a sigh of relief; at least that part of this man liked him. _Wait..._eat _me? _"Not yet anyway."

_Or not..._ Naruto retracted mentally, unsure of what to do. The black half growled something inaudible, luring the other side into an argument. Naruto rose slowly, deciding to make his escape while his predator was occupied with...himself. He turned around and began to sneak away…

Only to bump into something solid. **"Where do you think _you're_ going?"** No longer submerged in the ground – and more importantly, somehow _right in front of him_ – stood the figure. Piercing yellow eyes stared down at Naruto from between the massive jaws of what, upon closer inspection, appeared to be some sort of plant. The plant encased the man from his waist to at least two feet above his head; from the waist down he was dressed in blue pants with bandages wrapped around his ankles, and ninja sandals adorned his feet, both of which were, strangely enough, white.

Despite the fact that he was surely about to die, Naruto's mouth decided to move faster than his body (and brain). "How did you get here so _fast?_" He almost slapped himself for his own stupidity as the question left his lips; _those_ would be his last words?

But nothing happened. He opened one eye – _when_ _did I even close them? – _to see the plant-man staring down at him with what he guessed was something akin to curiosity. **"Tell me, child,** why are you out here by yourself?"

Naruto scowled, closing the eye again to try and rid himself of the reminder that he was perpetually alone, and crossed his arms. "I've always been by myself, as long as I can remember. Everyone in the village hates me. But one day I'll be Hokage, and then they'll all have to respect me!" Instead of the ridicule that usually greeted this proclamation, dead silence rang in the training area. The blonde opened his eyes to find that the strange person was no longer there.

He debated with himself on whether or not to report the man's presence to anyone, but then decided against it. Even if someone did believe him (which was unlikely), he had no real evidence that anyone else had even been in the area, let alone an idea of where he had gone. The whole incident felt so surreal that Naruto wondered if the plant-man hadn't just been a figment of his imagination.

…_Maybe I'll just go home now._

-l-l-l-

**"We should have eaten the child. There is no guarantee he won't say anything to the higher-ups of Konoha. **You worry too much. And even if he does say anything, what's it matter? No one in the village can catch us." His black side laughed. **"True, the Konoha-nin are fools."**

Zetsu ate the second of two deer he had killed, mulling over his recent discovery of the blonde boy. Humans tasted much better than venison, but the deer meat would sate his appetite at least temporarily; there was much for him to think about. It was previously unheard of for him to leave a target alive, simply because there had never been a reason to. Black Zetsu didn't understand why the child had been left alive – a scary thought, considering that he was the more intellectual half – but then again, White Zetsu couldn't exactly explain away the reason either, and he had been the one to make the decision.

It had been a flight of fancy to leave the boy alive. There was nothing to be accomplished by not eating him; in fact, it was more dangerous to _not_ kill him. But something in the way the blonde had stood his ground against Zetsu, and in the momentary glimpse at his life, struck a chord within the plant-man.

Forced isolation. It wasn't quite the same philosophy Zetsu himself lived by – even if it _was_ his lifestyle – but it was merely a stone's throw away from his personal motto. However, it _was_ how Zetsu had started out, having no alternative but to go into solitude to live his life. There were differences, of course, in that the former Grass shinobi had entered isolation to begin his life anew, while the blonde child was essentially trapped in his current, confined role, but those were arbitrary distinctions.

The child had potential. His intelligence left something to be desired – though it hadn't taken him overly long to figure out Zetsu was two personalities in one – but then again, White Zetsu's childishness had been insufferable at first, too, so that could be overlooked. More interesting was that the boy's youth and seeming pariah status meant he could easily be molded to the viewpoint of whoever gave him attention first.

_That_ was an intriguing prospect.

Zetsu avoided all allegiance to either village or person, mostly because it contradicted with what he believed in. The mere idea that he was almost considering teaching the blonde to embrace his ideals was akin to blasphemy. There was nothing to be gained by undergoing such a venture.

So why did he still feel a strange lure to do something?

**"There are only two options,"** growled Black Zetsu. **"Either we leave and find a **_**good**_** meal to forget everything, or…**or…" echoed White Zetsu.

The thought was left unfinished. Talking out loud was Zetsu's way of reasoning through things both halves were conflicted on; it wasn't a particularly often occurrence (anymore), but the method was still helpful when it did happen. Still, some things were better left unsaid.

_We go back._

-l-l-l-

Using the _**Kagerō**__, _Zetsu spent the next three days merged with all sorts of flora, watching the blonde child he had tried eating go through the rigors of everyday life. Granted, his life was unbelievably mundane, but Zetsu found it interesting that what the boy had told him actually appeared to be quite true. He would wake up and go to the Academy from morning until the middle of the afternoon, where he would then head out to the training field Zetsu had met him in (if he didn't have to serve detention). After that, he would sit down to dinner at a place called Ichiraku Ramen, where he would down several bowls of the noodles and broth.

As boring as his routine was, the child was a prime candidate for Zetsu's philosophy. For the most part, the rest of his class either jeered at his mistakes or ignored him to the best of their abilities; whispers followed him as he walked through the streets, snide remarks and cruel barbs tailed him like his own shadow. He was already ostracized from society. With a push in the right direction, he could very easily be manipulated into Zetsu's way of thinking.

The only issue the plant-man could find with this peculiar development was that interacting with the boy would mean contradicting the same philosophy he was trying to teach. Having never come across such a situation before, Zetsu was a bit confused on how to proceed. On the one hand, it would be interesting to pass on his way of thinking to a fresh ninja who could be sculpted as he saw fit; on the other hand, doing so went against everything he knew.

Unless…

Zetsu believed that the only person one could rely on was one's self. _Technically_, he wasn't putting his faith in the child, merely tutoring him in his own worldviews and ninja know-how. As long as the former Kusa-nin remained reliant upon his own abilities, he wasn't breaching his beliefs. Satisfied with using that logic, the next step would be to see if the boy was actually willing to be taught by him.

Which was why, as the sun set on the third day of Zetsu's observation, he moved from a tree to the ground, surfacing 20 feet away from where the blonde boy – Naruto, he had learned was the child's name – was hitting the same training post. His appearance startled Naruto from his training, and Zetsu watched him hesitate in his motions, preparing, he guessed, to flee at the slightest sign of movement.

The nukenin remained half-merged with the ground, keeping only his torso and above visible to the blonde. "You didn't run," noted Zetsu. There was a long pause before the boy shook his head. **"Brave little fool, aren't you?"**

When Zetsu didn't say anything else, Naruto took a tentative step backwards. "Y-you're not gonna eat me…are you?" Both sides of the plant-man responded in the negative, the duality of the voices putting the blonde even more on edge. His eyes darted around, still looking for a chance to escape; almost being eaten apparently made the prey highly wary of the predator, Zetsu mused idly. "S-so why are you here?"

Zetsu grinned; with his altered appearance and blunted teeth, the gesture came off as eerie and grotesque. The fact that the child was nervous around him boded well for the respect he could garner through fear. **"We came to make you an offer. **Would you be interested in learning from us?"

That stopped Naruto in his tracks. His nerves calmed down a tad with the knowledge that he (apparently) wasn't about to become this man's meal, but his mind began spinning at the offer. "You wanna train me?" The yellow eye on the plant-man's white side blinked. Naruto paused before giving a response, considering the idea.

This man was clearly a skilled ninja, capable of escaping the watchful eye of Konoha's own shinobi and possessing talents Naruto had never seen before. He was offering to essentially become Naruto's private tutor, something the blonde was sorely lacking and desperately desirous to have. But things generally didn't come without a price… "What do you get outta this? And why me?"

"When you're sad and alone, **all you can count on is yourself."** Naruto cocked his head curiously, clearly not understanding. Zetsu sighed. "You've been alone for a long time," empathized the white half. **"Such a lifestyle should have taught you that relying on other people is a foolish endeavor."**

Naruto nodded, either missing or ignoring the fact that he was going to be reliant upon this strange man. "So what are you gonna teach me? Oh, oh! What about the way you pop up in places, can you teach me that?"

Zetsu blinked in surprise. It was astonishing how quickly the boy had gone from being hesitant about his presence to being excited about the prospect of learning from him. Perhaps he, too, had some sort of psychological disorder? That was something to look into. "No," replied the former Kusa-nin. _**Kagerō**_ wasn't a technique that could be performed by any random ninja, and like the rest of Zetsu's oft-used jutsu arsenal, was unique to his body structure.

The blonde looked momentarily stumped, but brightened again instantly. "Taijutsu? Ooo, how 'bout some cool ninjutsu?"

The plant-man stared at him. "No." When he had worked for Kusagakure, both of those areas were necessary aspects of Zetsu's skill set. He had possessed moderate talent in both hand-to-hand combat and _**Doton**_ ninjutsu – nothing overly spectacular, but certainly enough to get by. After he had come into ownership of his current body, any prowess in those fields had been ignored (though not forgotten) in lieu of his more useful abilities. **"You will still have to attend the Academy to obtain those skills. **Or learn them from your Jōnin-sensei. **Or learn them by your own hand. Do not put your faith in others to assist you." **The hypocrisy in his statements, again, seemed to roll off the blonde like water off a duck.

Naruto frowned at him. "Well then, what _can_ you teach me?"

"Botany."

"Botany?" Naruto echoed incredulously.

**"The study of plants," **stated Zetsu's darker side. The boy began to protest, but a growl from the same, eviler half stopped him. **"With time you will learn that nature can either be a worthwhile friend or the harshest of foes. **It really will be useful for you to know."

Naruto shrugged, unwilling to look a gift horse in the mouth. "If you say so."

-l-l-l-

Three weeks later found Naruto tromping off to the training grounds in preparation for his daily lesson with Zetsu, whose name he had been reminded of two days into their training. The man was interesting, that Naruto could willingly admit. Through his time spent with the former Kusa-nin, Naruto had already picked out some of Zetsu's more peculiar traits.

For one thing, he was still adjusting to Zetsu's duality (he was hesitant to call it a second personality because Zetsu often seemed to be two people in one, but that might've been his imagination). Black Zetsu and White Zetsu – as Naruto had taken to mentally referring to each of the man's halves – each possessed his own opinions and personality, though they both seemed to agree on certain subject matters. He had also noticed a pattern in the man's speech, where when both halves were in agreement, Zetsu would refer to himself as 'we' or 'us'; when one side was expressing his own opinion, he would refer to himself as a singular entity. Naruto found the disparity in what Zetsu agreed with himself on to be somewhat amusing, if simultaneously head-pounding.

White Zetsu, who seemed to be the more laidback, curious, and – dare he say it – playful side, had a tendency to find Naruto's confusion and frustration to be humorous more than anything else. The plant-man's dark half was serious, straightforward, and highly intelligent, possessing a sinister nature which reminded Naruto somewhat of the treatment of the villagers. The main difference, though, was that Black Zetsu never seemed intentionally cruel with his barbs, merely matter-of-fact (or at least matter-of-fact in alignment with his own beliefs).

But Naruto found that he couldn't complain too much about Zetsu's quirks. True to his word, the man was teaching him all about Konoha's flora, from medicinal properties of herbs to poisonous qualities of plants. The information was vast, and it shocked Naruto at how little he knew about his surroundings, even if he found his mind wandering at certain points during Zetsu's lessons. Such inattention often resulted in Black Zetsu snapping at him for his inability to memorize important facts, not to mention repeated lectures to make sure Naruto had the information drilled home, but Naruto bore through both because he had someone who was willing to pay him attention.

Every day he would meet Zetsu at the training grounds, where the man would lead him into a different part of Konoha's surrounding foliage, point out different plants, and lecture him on their properties. Zetsu always remained half-merged with some form of vegetation during their sessions, only gesturing towards whatever he was talking to and physically interacting with Naruto as little as possible. In fact, now that he thought about it, the only time Zetsu had ever touched Naruto was on the first day of their lessons…and even then, it had only been the briefest of contact from the white side.

Zetsu's form emerged from the ground as Naruto entered the training area. **"Stand over there,"** he ordered, pointing at a location opposite the training posts.

Naruto shrugged in confusion but did as he was told. Due in part to being taught by the man, Naruto had quickly gotten over his terror of Zetsu induced by almost becoming his meal at their first meeting; he had little to fear now except Black Zetsu's somewhat short temper. Even though some of the information Zetsu taught seemed unnecessary, he had yet to steer the blonde in the wrong direction or sabotage his learning.

On a short stump in the area Zetsu had indicated was placed a cloth bundle held together by a cord. Naruto undid the tie to reveal a pile of kunai and senbon. Picking up one of the thin needles, he ran his fingers along its length, purposely pricking his pointer on the tip to test its sharpness. He looked up in time to see an exact replica of his likeness step away from Zetsu and disappear in the direction of the town. The senbon fell from his slack hand and hit the pile of weaponry with a small _clang_. "What was _that?_"

**"**_**Narikawari no Jutsu**_**," **growled Black Zetsu. "Substitute Technique," offered the lighter side. "It's why the village isn't suspicious of your whereabouts, Naruto-kun."

"I thought that was the _**Kawarimi**_."

**"That is the **_**Substitution**_** Technique. **More correctly known as the Body Replacement Technique."

"Oh. …Well, can I learn what you did?"

**"No."**

Naruto scowled at the pile of weaponry in front of him. While he appreciated the fact that Zetsu was taking the time to actually teach him something, it was rather frustrating to not learn anything…_substantial_, as far as new jutsu went. Especially since Zetsu had some pretty cool techniques. "Why not?!" he demanded.

**"Because you don't look like this!" **snarled the other male. Naruto recoiled a bit at his tone; despite Black Zetsu's shorter fuse than his more polite half, he had never reacted with such vehemence at the blonde before. "Our jutsu are unique to us, Naruto-kun," placated White Zetsu, "which is why you can't learn any of them."

Naruto nodded slowly, taking up his previous position with the mindset to try to not irritate Zetsu again that day. He waited for his teacher(s) to say something, but they seemed to be having a silent argument. Black Zetsu – with no facial features to speak of – was a blank slate as far as reading his mood. After a minute, White Zetsu spoke up. "You're set to graduate tomorrow, right, Naruto-kun?" The blonde's head bobbed once again, the thought of not passing not even crossing his mind. "Well, once that happens you'll spend a lot of time out on missions and with your team, meaning our time together will be more limited. We want to be sure that you are prepared to use some of the tools we have taught you."

The blonde picked up a kunai, admiring the difference in the quality from what he owned. He didn't know where Zetsu got the throwing knives or needles, but they were certainly nice looking. "But Zetsu, you've been teaching me all about plants. What's that gotta do with kunai and senbon?"

**"Poison,"** growled Black Zetsu, **"or do you not remember learning that?** In liquid form, poison can be more easily transmitted into the bloodstream through a medium," explained White Zetsu, **"hence the senbon and kunai."**

Naruto's brows furrowed skeptically. "Is poison really that good though? I mean, from what you've said, it takes a lot of work for something kinda…unimpressive."

**"You have clearly never heard of either Chiyo or Sasori of Sunagakure."**

"Nope."

"Both were experts in poison, and Chiyo created several brews during the Second Shinobi World War which could only be countered by Tsunade of the Sannin. **You've heard of her, I presume."**

"…Er…"

**"Your lack of knowledge pertaining to your own village is simply astounding.** The point is that it really is an effective method of fighting, if used properly. Proper ninja learn how to assassinate from the shadows, something poison does quite readily. **Experts in poison dip their weapons in their mixtures to intoxicate their opponents. **I personally preferred senbon when using man-made weapons because of how much easier to maneuver they are."

Naruto looked troubled and confused. "But I haven't even tried making any poisons yet. How do I know if I'm actually gonna be good at using them?"

**"Then perhaps you should practice," **snarled his tutor, **"or else what was the purpose in teaching you?** It's something you should work on in your free time," agreed the lighter side, "but for now, perhaps we should work on your precision and accuracy." He moved slightly to reveal a target attached to one of the training posts. "Have at it."

The next hour was spent with Naruto throwing a mixture of kunai and senbon – requiring some experimentation, since senbon weren't reviewed as thoroughly in the Academy – at the target. None of them hit the bull's-eye, though several were scattered about the outer rings. Naruto grew increasingly frustrated throughout the session as his ineptness with the ninja tools become more and more apparent.

**"You seem to have little talent for projectile weapons,"** noted Black Zetsu idly, grabbing several kunai and senbon littering the ground behind the target.

"Shut up!" snapped Naruto, temper fraying. "Like you can do any better!" Zetsu immediately vanished into the ground, and Naruto mentally panicked, thinking that he had driven off his tutor with his words. Again, his mouth had chosen to retort before he could really think about what he was saying.

The plant-man reappeared next to him, causing Naruto to sigh in relief. Zetsu's arm flashed forward in a swift movement that Naruto couldn't catch. His other arm – the black side's – came up and pointed towards the target; Naruto's head swiveled to it.

Stuck in the bull's-eye, just slightly off-center, was a single senbon. White Zetsu flashed Naruto a triumphant grin as the darker half stated, **"You were saying?"**

The blonde's mouth opened and closed like a fish's out of water before he hung his head in shame. "Sorry, Zetsu," he mumbled, picking up a senbon and twiddling it between his fingers.

"It's okay Naruto-kun," soothed White Zetsu, "just try to focus. The motion is in the wrist more than the arm; try not to hold it so rigidly. Now concentrate, and throw when you feel ready." Naruto waited, squinting hard at the target in an attempt to visualize the path the needle would take. His arm moved, not nearly as fast at his tutor's, and his wrist flicked out, releasing the thin weapon. Beside him, Zetsu nodded. "Very well done, Naruto-kun." The senbon, while not buried in the center of the target, was in the second smallest ring, close to the ring surrounding the bull's-eye. Naruto felt a swell of pride at this accomplishment – in the Academy, whenever he had tried to prove his superiority over Sasuke in weapons' practice, he had always ended up failing miserably. It was nice to see that he was making some progress. **"Keep at it, you still need the practice."**

…Well, at least he had impressed White Zetsu.

Another hour and a half passed before Naruto decided to call it quits. He could hit the target 7 times out of 10 with senbon (which he had decided to focus on when they felt less bulky in his hands than kunai), though his accuracy for piercing the center still left something to be desired. At the end of the session, Naruto helped Zetsu gather all the weaponry, dumped it upon the cloth bundle, and waited for the plant-man to tie it together. When that was done, Zetsu turned to him and handed him the full package. "These are yours now, Naruto-kun," stated White Zetsu. "You should practice your aim whenever you have the opportunity."

Naruto could only stare at the gift in mute shock. Barring the meals Iruka or the Hokage sometimes offered to pay for at Ichiraku Ramen, nobody had ever given him anything before. It was simply unheard of. Overcome by emotion, he moved to show Zetsu his gratitude…

**"Touch me and die."**

…Or he would just settle for being appreciative. "Thank you, Zetsu." He bowed slightly, the first sign of respect he'd ever shown anyone, and then practically skipped away. The former Kusa-nin watched him go impassively before disappearing into the ground.

-l-l-l-

Naruto trudged through the forest surrounding the training area he frequented with Zetsu, mind in a tizzy. High above, the moon reflected off the metallic surface of the blonde's new _hitae-ate_ (it was technically Iruka's current one bequeathed to him, but technicalities…), which was gripped with white-knuckled intensity in his right hand.

After failing the Academy Graduation Exam for his third time earlier that day – or was it yesterday? It definitely seemed like it was past midnight by now – Naruto had been approached by his other teacher, Mizuki, and was told about an alternate method to become a Genin. He had (rather foolishly, in hindsight) accepted the white-haired man's talk at face value, and had proceeded to steal the (apparently sacred) Scroll of Seals.

During the ensuing fight between Mizuki and Iruka, Naruto had learned two very significant things. One was a technique from the scroll, _**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu**_, which allowed him to produce massive quantities of Shadow Clones for combat. Considering how terrible he was at the standard _**Bunshin no Jutsu**_, the Shadow Clone Technique was simply a godsend.

Then he had learned the reason for his being ostracized from the village – the Yondaime Hokage, his hero, had sealed the Kyūbi no Yōko, the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, into _him_. And while Iruka insisted that he wasn't a demon – amidst Mizuki's loud proclamations that he was one – and had even dubbed him an official graduate following the recovery of the Scroll of Seals, Naruto was still confused. After helping get his teacher to the hospital, he had immediately run off, ripping off the forehead protector in the process.

Too many thoughts were rushing through his mind, conflictions of different ideals running rampant and crowding his ability to think. He blamed Zetsu for exposing him to such a way of thinking; without the plant-man, Naruto probably would've been perfectly content with just accepting Iruka's explanation and leaving everything else alone.

So he was seeking out Zetsu's counsel to try and straighten things out.

Naruto was now deep within the forest where he assumed Zetsu was currently living. "Zetsu?" he called out hesitantly. Something slithered around his feet, and before he could do anything, something long and thin was wrapped around his body, binding his arms to his sides. His yelp of surprise was cut short as the thing promptly gagged him.

The wide, unblinking yellow eye of Black Zetsu peered out from a nearby tree. Strangely enough, to Naruto at least, his white side was…blank. No eye, no nose, no mouth. He had little time to wonder about that when his tutor spoke. **"Greetings, child. Here I thought our meetings during the day were enough for you." **Naruto struggled to respond, but the gag prevented him from saying anything coherent. **"I suppose I should allow you to speak,"** Black Zetsu mused.

Mouth free, Naruto immediately spat out the taste of whatever had gagged him and asked, "What was that? And will you _let me go?!_"

**"A vine,"** replied the plant-man as if it were obvious. Inwardly, he smirked. It was quite amusing to watch Naruto struggle against his bonds. He had sensed the boy coming, of course, but his sadism dictated that he get some mileage out of terrifying him for a bit while he had the opportunity. **"And not just yet. Perhaps you would like to explain why you have sought me out."**

Naruto slumped suddenly, all the fight leaving his system. "I didn't pass the Graduation Exam this morning," he began sullenly, "but one of the teachers said that I could pass if I learned a jutsu from this scroll the Old Man had. So I stole the scroll and learned **_Kage Bunshin no Jutsu_**, but then Iruka-sensei found me and he figured out that Mizuki had tricked me." Distracted by his retelling of his adventure, Naruto didn't register the loosening of the vine that was holding him hostage. "Then Mizuki told me that the Yondaime Hokage couldn't kill the Kyūbi, so instead he sealed it inside of me. Iruka-sensei says I'm not a demon, but…I don't know who to believe. Everyone treats me like I'm a really filthy piece of garbage…" He shot a somewhat pleading glance at Zetsu's shadowy figure, silently asking for guidance.

There were obvious details missing in Naruto's rather fragmented retelling of the story, but Black Zetsu was intelligent enough to fill in the holes. The 'Old Man' was the Hokage, this Mizuki individual was the teacher who had tricked Naruto originally, and there had been some sort of history lesson that ended with Naruto discovering he was the jailor to the Kyūbi. _That_ was an interesting tidbit of information, but he could focus on that at some later period in time. Right now, he had a point to prove.

If Black Zetsu possessed a mouth, he would've been grinning maliciously at how well things had played into his hand.

**"Have you learned a lesson from this incident?"**

Naruto jerked suddenly, startled by the question. "What?"

**"By unquestioningly obeying someone you saw as a superior, you not only committed a felony against Konohagakure, but you have proven yourself vulnerable to blindly accepting the opinions of others. If you had not listened to the hearsay of this Mizuki, you would not be in the midst of this personal conundrum.**

**"Summarily, you have received conflicting views about yourself from two people you formerly saw as some sort of role models. Now, one of them has betrayed you, but even the opinion of the other is not enough to convince you that the first one lied. So you come to me for advice. My question is: have you learned something from what has happened?"**

Naruto stared at his tutor, digesting the lecture. Zetsu was intent on forcing Naruto to think for himself, something that the blonde was ill-inclined to do, even though it would surely turn out to be a powerful asset someday. Intelligence was not one of his key strengths, but with enough time, he could reason through a situation. Zetsu's favorite saying popped into his head with all the suddenness of a lightning bolt. "You want me to rely on my own abilities," he responded slowly, almost unsure of his answer.

**"…There is hope for you yet. Yes, you need to learn that trusting in other people has a tendency to backfire. Look at where it got you with this Mizuki person. There is nothing to be gained by heeding the advice of others, especially since the majority of them are fools."**

The blonde peered at him intently, mind working with this resurfaced train of thought. "…Why should I trust what you say then?"

Zetsu's dark laughter echoed in the forest. **"Quite clever," **he admitted. **"You shouldn't."** Naruto's surprise must have been clearly displayed on his face, for the nukenin continued, **"Your own opinions are the only ones which should influence you. **_**That**_** is the lesson I have been attempting to teach you. My main purpose has been to guide you to that conclusion. Now, do **_**you**_** believe that you're a demon?"**

"No," he replied after a moment of thought, "I guess not." He paused. "Are…are you gonna leave? You know, now that I understand what you've been trying to teach me…?"

**"No,"** Black Zetsu informed him curtly. **"You are still young and naïve, and as such are prone to the fallacies of your age. I have invested time and effort into your tutelage thus far, and I will not abandon my project midway, especially after this breakthrough."** If Naruto took offense at being deemed a project – or any of the other descriptors Black Zetsu had dubbed him – he didn't show it. **"I can tell that despite your realization of my ideal, you are still unsure what to believe. It is good to ask questions, though you should not invest your faith in others for the answers to them. Draw your own conclusions."**

Naruto's eyes closed tightly in what Zetsu recognized as his thinking pose, and then opened after a time, accompanied by an agreeing nod. "Okay, Zetsu. Thanks for the help." He turned and began to walk away, but then hesitated and asked without looking back, "Do _you_ think I'm a demon?"

**"Would it change your opinion of yourself if I said 'yes'?"**

The blonde shrugged half-heartedly. "Probably not anymore. Just curious."

There was no response, and Naruto began his trek again before the deep voice of his tutor spoke. **"People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones,"** Black Zetsu stated simply. He said nothing more, and Naruto knew that the conversation was over.

As he headed back to the village proper, he considered Zetsu's departing words. Cryptic as they were, Naruto felt as if the plant-man didn't view him as reincarnation of the fox, which helped align his own views about himself. As much as he would've liked to say other people's opinions didn't matter, Zetsu was probably the closest thing Naruto had to a friend (the Hokage and Iruka didn't really count…they acted more like superiors), and what he thought of the blonde mattered. In the three weeks since they'd met, Naruto had grown to respect Zetsu's opinions about things, even if they were a bit different from how he usually thought. And although the nukenin's teaching methodology was strange, it was also proving to be interesting and effective.

But Naruto thought that maybe Zetsu's last words said more about what the plant-man thought about himself rather than how he viewed Naruto. Zetsu was…strange…that was certain, but the blonde didn't really consider him 'demonic'. He idly pondered the idea of telling his tutor that he didn't think he was a demon, but then decided against it. If there was one thing Naruto figured he could take from this night, it was that Zetsu didn't believe what anyone thought of him – good or bad – mattered, and neither should he.

His hand clenched a little tighter around the _hitae-ate_, and he stopped for a minute to tie it around his head. Staring at the moon, his expression morphed into a grin.

_Things are gonna be interesting from now on._


	2. Loyalty & Betrayal

_When you've been betrayed by that which you've trusted in, where will your future loyalties lie?_

-l-l-l-

Zetsu didn't have issues with Konoha as a whole. The village – like every other village barring Kusa – didn't know of his existence, and so he found it hard to hate it. Even Kusa was spared the majority of his ire, primarily because Zetsu had learned to accept what his former home had done to him. Yes, he had harbored a grudge initially because of the new circumstances he had been forced to live with, but even that had swiftly faded with the magnificent abilities and freedom granted to him because of his village's machinations.

Zetsu was quite possibly the most apathetic nukenin in existence with regards to his feelings for his former home, and only his annoyance at Naruto's persistence in wanting to learn his special abilities had caused Black Zetsu to lash out at him during their training sessions.

Memories began to play in his mind's eye, twisted visions of what he had undergone in the bowels of the small country he hailed from.

_The Village Hidden in Grass had never been renowned as a powerful or militaristic entity. It was one of the things the citizens accepted as plain, simple fact, though an alliance with Konohagakure made the need for a strong army somewhat unnecessary. Instead, it used the art of diplomacy to safeguard its natives and protect itself._

_But when Iwagakure had invaded Kusagakure during the Third Shinobi World War and used its nearness to wage war against Konoha, Kusa had realized its foolhardiness. Raising shinobi forces large enough to take on one of the Five Great Shinobi Nations wasn't feasible, but having enough men to properly defend itself was probably a good idea. Unfortunately, Iwa had a rather hostile approach to getting what it wanted, and its forces took a fair number of Kusa's most elite shinobi to their death._

_Zetsu, a 17-year-old Chūnin with no particularly extraordinary skill set, remembered quaking in fear at the opposing army's presence. After the threat had passed, regret had seeped into his bones like a lead weight – regret for not fighting back, for not helping to save his comrades, for not fighting to protect his parents, both of whom had died in the invasion._

_So, months later, when he was personally summoned to see Kusa's leader about a special undertaking, Zetsu was thrilled to have been chosen. It was an opportunity to make up for his inaction during the Hidden Rock's assault, a chance to do something great for his village. He arrived at the building where missions were assigned and was immediately directed to go upstairs by a receptionist. Opening a set of double doors, he spied the village leader, Mori Takeshi, sitting behind his usual desk, flanked by two of Hidden Grass' ANBU; he could sense the presence of another individual off to his left, but paid it no mind. Zetsu bowed hastily. "You summoned me?"_

_"Yes," responded Takeshi, "I have selected you specifically to undergo a new training regimen which, if successful, will help bolster our forces. You will be working very closely with this man." The figure Zetsu had initially ignored stepped forward, revealing himself to be a brown-haired, green-eyed individual wearing an unbuttoned white lab coat and rectangular glasses._

_Zetsu turned back to face his superior. "I would be honored." Takeshi nodded, and Zetsu felt something prick his arm. As his eyes began to close against his will, he thought he saw the stoic expression of the man he revered as the village leader turn into a laconic smirk._

_When he woke up, Zetsu found himself lying flat on his back, shirtless, and strapped to some sort of metallic table by his wrists, elbows, ankles, thighs, and waist. "Wh-what –?"_

_"Oh, you're awake." Suddenly, his vision was filled with the image of the man in the lab coat. "Welcome to my lab," he gestured. "It's a shame you can't see it all, but it really is quite a nice place. Now, just lay there quietly while I start the experiments. I'd suggest getting comfortable…there's no telling how long this is going to take." The man laughed then, a mad cackle that contradicted how genial his tone of voice portrayed him._

_"Now, I think we'll start with your personality. Emotions are tricky things, and Takeshi-sama wants to see if we can eliminate them to produce shinobi without feelings. Did you know that Konoha once had a similar program? Quite functional, until the Sandaime Hokage deemed it immoral, that is." The scientist-cum-doctor – Zetsu couldn't quite decide which the man was – shrugged. "Ah well, no use crying over spilled milk._

_"Unfortunately, treating you will be a bit different. You've grown up without being discouraged from expressing emotions, so repressing them will take some work. Lucky for me, I have this." He held up a small black seed. "Do you know what this is?" When no response was forthcoming, he continued, "This is the seed of the Beach Moonflower, a plant which grows along the eastern shore of the Land of Fire. By itself, you might experience some mild hallucinations and a bit of lethargy. Combined with my chakra…well, the effects multiply dramatically. Now open wide," he commanded in a sing-song voice._

_Strapped to the table, Zetsu was helpless to prevent the man from putting the seed in his mouth and forcing him to swallow. "Good!" lauded the scientist. "Now how about another one…"_

_Zetsu quickly lost track of time and reality as he remained trapped in the scientist's clutches. Weeks passed with him being force-fed the chakra-enhanced Beach Moonflower seeds (his only real nutrition coming from intravenous fluids) as his senses dulled and his mind regressed. The only voice he was aware of was that of his tormenter, who was prone to either talking aloud about what he was doing or discussing his years researching botany and its application to create perfect shinobi. In a way, Zetsu was grateful for the sound, because the one-sided conversations gave him an idea of what was happening to his body, as well as a connection to the real world._

_"Hmm," mused the scientist almost four weeks after Zetsu's initial imprisonment. He flashed a light in front of Zetsu's eyes, pricked his body with sharp instruments, and asked Zetsu a series of questions, to which the Kusa-nin barely replied. "Emotional acknowledgment appears active only in response to basic external stimuli and is limited to simple reactions. I'd say this was a success!" He turned around and began muttering to himself, writing notes on a clipboard._

_For Zetsu, it was only the beginning of his transformation._

_Aside from making sure Zetsu was still alive, the scientist spent the next two days preparing for what he referred to in mumblings as 'the second experiment'. What it was, Zetsu had no idea, but his focus during that time was more internal. As the somewhat addictive effects of the Beach Moonflower seeds dulled slightly (withdrawal was a bitch, though he refused to show it outwardly, unwilling to allow his captor to continue force-feeding him the seeds), Zetsu swore he could hear the dark rumblings of another person within his mind. His awareness, reduced to almost child-like cognizance, wondered at the new development as the voice grew stronger, whispering sinister words meant to sway his lost perspective on life._

_At the end of the two days, Zetsu's captor approached him with a syringe. "This won't hurt a bit," assured the scientist, inserting the needle and compressing the plunger. Drowsiness immediately overwhelmed Zetsu's senses. "You'll be looking at the world in a whole new way when you wake up," was the last thing he heard, said in that same falsely kind tone he had grown used to._

_Darkness seemed to encompass everything. "A light would be nice," Zetsu observed absently, his voice more high-pitched than he was used to. The area around him brightened slowly, and Zetsu looked at his hands; they were smaller and paler than he remembered. "Why am I so…different?"_

_There was a deep laugh, the tone mocking and cruel. Zetsu's head snapped up at the sound, his eyes focusing on…himself. It was his own body, but not quite; the man was a little taller and sturdier than he was at 17, and his aura exuded a confidence and darkness that he lacked. A sinister smirk graced his lips. _**_"Hello…Zetsu."_**

_"Wh-who are you? Why do you look like me, only older? Why do I sound so young?"_

_The man threw his arms out wide. _**_"So curious, like a _child _learning the ways of the world." _**_He spoke with mocking contempt, though Zetsu couldn't tell if it was directed at him or if that was just his manner of speech. _**_"I'm you…or at least a part of you. The seeds that fool gave you repressed your emotions, though not quite in the way intended. To cope with such a change, your mind separated the mature aspects of your personality from your more childish ones. Hence the difference in appearance, for both of us._**

_**"When the fool stopped giving you the seeds, your body slowly began to weed the effects from your system. Unfortunately, the damage has already been done, and now your body is readjusting to your new...**_**selves**_**."**_

_Zetsu hesitated in responding. This other him was a bit scary to talk with, but there was something in the way the man spoke that indicated he wasn't the target of his other side's cruelty. "So what's going to happen to me?" _

_**"To us,"** __corrected his older self. _**_"We will both survive in this body, each only a piece of a person. For the moment, I am but a repressed representation of your intelligence, darkness, and maturity, with limited jurisdiction over this body. As the effect of the hallucinogens wears off and your mind adjusts to the separate personalities, we will develop joint control of the single body. And then we will strike."_**

_His head swiveled away from child-Zetsu. _**_"It is time. I have matters to attend to." _**_Before Zetsu could even ask what he meant, the man was gone. He stood in the vast emptiness of his mindscape, wondering what his darker side could be doing and trying to figure out what was going to happen to him. Eventually, a new sound made its way to his ears._

_"Wake up, my little test subject," spoke the cheery voice of the scientist, "time to see the fruits of my labor!"_

_Zetsu came to with a groggy moan, though he immediately had a mental panic attack when he realized he couldn't see the ceiling. The scientist must have sensed his discomfort, for he said, "Relax. I'll take those bandages off right now." That statement did nothing to ease Zetsu's inner turmoil, and he closed his eyes as his captor began to unravel the material blocking his vision. He was commanded to open his eyes as soon as the bandages were gone. A light was shined into one eye and then the other, his tormentor muttering to himself all the while. "Well, it looks as if the eyes took okay, though the difference between them is unexpected. Have a look."_

_He held a mirror in front of Zetsu's face, allowing the teenager to get a good look at himself for the first time in weeks. His eyes were now a bright yellow, wide and round. More peculiar than that was the fact that his left eye possessed the outline of a pupil and the smallest sliver of white sclera, whereas his right eye was completely blank. "Now you'll be able to record images that you see at will, perfect for spying! Though I don't know what's wrong with your left eye…I suppose that'll have to be determined some other time…we're on a bit of a timetable."_

_Something was wrong with his _left _eye? But that was the more normal looking one…_

_The dark but tired laughter of his older self echoed in Zetsu's head. 'Victory' was what it seemed to say._

_Time passed again for Zetsu, though he wasn't too concerned with the amount lapsed. He spent a lot of the time in internal reflection, speaking with his older self about plans for the future. Apparently, his darker side had used his limited influence to interfere with the skill granted to him by the eye surgery, sapping the recording ability and transferring most of it to his right eye. As a result, his left eye had regained some of its normal appearance, though his mature self's influence over his body had still been too weak to completely change it._

_More frequently, the mature persona would try teaching the younger one to be more serious in an effort to reconcile the two personalities, but progress was unimpressive. Constant exposure to the Beach Moonflower seeds had so successfully split his personality that recovering from their effect seemed impossible. Both sides of his personality also started exerting control over his body – his mature self taking the right side for its recording ability – though each half knew to keep their influence over the supposedly emotionless body inconspicuous. It was around that time when Zetsu – the younger persona which had still considered himself to be the singular, teenage boy strapped to the table – accepted his duality and began referring to the body in general as Zetsu instead of just his own self. He had become merely a piece of the full human._

_That was also when the third experiment began._

_"Well," began the scientist, "after running many _many _samples of your DNA in conjunction with the remaining attributes Takeshi-sama desires, I have determined that it's impossible to add the remaining abilities to your form as you are now…so I'm going to make you part plant! Isn't that exciting? It'll be a huge breakthrough in the field of medical surgery if this operation is successful. I've been doing some intensive research to ascertain how to do this, so you should come out of this alive. Are you comforted by that thought?"_

_The question, Zetsu figured, was rhetorical, since the man turned and walked away instead of waiting for an answer. He returned moments later, arms laden with a large potted plant. "Do you know what this is?"_

_Zetsu's more intelligent side bit back a snide retort. Though the exact species was one he hadn't seen before, Venus Fly Traps stood out quite clearly from other vegetation in the plant world. This one was about the size of his head, with a much narrower – more oblong – shape than the typical discus-like jaws. The scientist continued on without providing an answer. "Well, soon it'll be part of you."_

_Zetsu was beginning to hate how chipper the man always sounded. There was a needle prick, and everything faded away._

_He woke up some time later, feeling dehydrated and desiring sunlight. Footsteps sounded out, and soon his green-eyed captor was staring down at him. A moment later found a kunai descending upon his face, and a moment after that, Zetsu only saw darkness. "Excellent," spoke the distorted voice of the scientist, "simply marvelous." Light shone down upon him as his vision of the lab returned. "You'll be happy to know that this was a complete success," the man informed him. "Your DNA is now a mixture of plant and human, and the incorporation of the Venus Fly Trap into your body gives you a defense mechanism to protect your vitals._

_"The tricky part was finding a way to graft the plant into your human system. Basically, the roots of the plant are tied into your bladder, where they absorb the water in your urine. They branch out from there, following your bloodstream and using some of the carbon dioxide present there as part of the plant's life cycle. The plant itself emerges from your torso and encases your head for protection. Oh, and if you were wondering how that little fellow from earlier got big enough to surround your body…well, you can give credit to my jutsu. No thanks are necessary, really._

_"Now," he chirped, "we can get on to the real tests. By splicing your new DNA with that of other species and then inserting it back into your body, I can genetically modify several of your traits. Doesn't that sound interesting?"_

_The man turned away to move back to what child-Zetsu presumed was some sort of workbench. The now hybrid plant-man decided to kill time by returning to holding mental conversations with his other personality. His mature side believed that their escape from captivity was imminent, though he didn't see how that could be done. Eventually, after what Zetsu guessed to be three days, his captor returned to his side with two vials and a syringe._

_"You don't know what these are," he said, shaking the vials slightly, "so I'll just have to tell you. This one," he began, extracting the cork top and taking the fluid into the syringe, "contains DNA from sweet pinesap, a rare plant found only in the pine forests of the Land of Lightning. Sweet pinesap evolved the ability to camouflage itself with the detritus littering the forest floor. Hopefully you'll be able to do the same thing, my little spy, and blend seamlessly into your environment. And this one," he continued after injecting the first shot, "is DNA from a common fern found here in Kusa. Do you know what's interesting about ferns? They reproduce asexually by dispersing spores to the wind. Can you imagine hundreds of little spores germinating from just one plant? With any luck, you'll be able to do the same thing; maybe not on the same level, but imagine creating a plethora of clones to help you out in a fight!"_

_As the man muttered, 'Marvelous!' to himself over and over again, both halves of Zetsu were embroiled in conversation. __**"Soon,"** __swore the older side, _**_"the moment of reckoning is almost upon us." _**_His more childish side nodded. _**_"In the meantime, it is long past time to assert our dominance over this fool's experimentation."_**

_Over the next two days, the darker persona manipulated the spread of the sweet pinesap DNA while the other side cordoned off the fern DNA. It was a concession the two halves made, where giving one side full control over certain abilities was deemed better than splitting the skills between them. When Zetsu's captor eventually returned his full attention to the plant-man after preparing for the next procedure, he almost dropped the vial he was holding in shock. "No no no! What happened?! Why do you look like that?!"_

_As the man moaned to himself and tried calculating what had gone wrong, Zetsu's two personalities met inside his mindscape. The more mature one – now a deep, ebony black with no distinguishable facial features save the wide yellow eyes – laughed. _**_"And now the idiot runs around like a headless chicken." _**_His childish aspect – skin a pure, snowy white – grinned with good humor at the analogy. _**_"We are almost complete. Old and young, wise and immature, evil and innocent…black...and white."_**

_Both sides returned their consciousness to the outside world. Though it had taken a fair bit of time – which they fortunately had in spades – each personality had eventually developed control and awareness over half of Zetsu's full body. By meddling with the pigmentation altering DNA of the sweet pinesap, both personas were clearly labeled to the outside world as Black Zetsu and White Zetsu. It was the first recognition of actual identities they had had since White Zetsu's realization that he was only half of the whole._

_"A reaction to the camouflaging ability of the sweet pinesap?" murmured the scientist. "This will require further research. In the meantime, Takeshi-sama will be arriving tomorrow to check on my progress, and you have one more injection to go. This is a cross-breed of many different species of lichen, ranging from the Land of Snow to the Land of Wind, meant to survive in any extreme weather conditions." The familiar prick of a syringe made its presence known in Zetsu's arm. "Lichens grow on trees and rocks, finding the smallest crevices to hide in. Hopefully, the input of lichen DNA will allow you to merge with plant life and wield it more effectively than you could before. Oh, I can't wait to tell Takeshi-sama that I'm ahead of schedule!"_

_Zetsu was tested in his new merging ability a number of hours later, by melding his hand with a potted plant. His captor was apparently pleased with the results, for he seemed even more chipper than usual, but Zetsu saw it as the beginning of his escape. Since the scientist was unaware of the plant-man's split personality – or that he actually _had _a personality – he didn't know that Black Zetsu theorized through the test that he could travel through different plants. White Zetsu was unsure of the plausibility of such a task, but the confidence of his darker half eased his skepticism._

_When Mori Takeshi walked into the lab flanked by two ANBU guards, Black Zetsu mentally laughed, assuring his counterpart that they would be free soon enough. There was a debate between Takeshi and Zetsu's captor before the former's face loomed in Zetsu's vision. White Zetsu leered maniacally at him in spontaneous good humor. "He is a monstrosity, not a soldier," stated Takeshi. "You expect me to condone more ninja to this life?"_

_"But sir, it was the only way to instill in him all the necessary abilities. And he's created to be more of a spy. Imagine what I can do with an actual combatant!"_

_"Enough!" Takeshi snapped. "You had your chance. We will find another way to improve our forces." He turned towards his two guards. "Take this man and his creation to the dungeons. There can be no loose ends. We will dispose of them shortly." And then he walked away._

_As the scientist shouted the unfairness of the situation, White Zetsu nudged his darker half in their thoughts. "Shouldn't we escape now?"_

_**"No, not quite yet. It would require too much effort to neutralize the guards...and I wish to show them **__**exactly**__** what we can do."**_

_Zetsu and his tormentor were shackled and led to Kusa's ANBU headquarters. The place was small – as the number of elite shinobi was also small – but it housed Hidden Grass' dungeons underneath. Captor and captive were locked in separate, adjoining cells, and cuffed with chakra-restraining devices. Zetsu thought he saw a tremor pass through the body of the ANBU who locked him up, and he grinned at the notion that they were afraid of him. When the guards left, Black Zetsu mentally told his other side, _**_"Now we leave."_**

_He began sinking into the ground, using the system of roots buried underneath the stone of the dungeon floor to travel into the cell next door. The scientist's eyes gleamed with pride as his creation emerged from the ground. "Excellent work, my little spy. Now free me!"_

_Black Zetsu laughed, and the man's face quickly changed to confusion. _**_"Simplistic fool, did you really think I would obey your commands?"_**

_"Wh-what is this? You're supposed to be emotionless, easily controllable!"_

_**"You seem to like lengthy explanations, so let me explain to you what **_**really** _**happened. I've been manipulating your precious experiments since your little seeds created two separate Zetsu. I altered the eye implantation, I sapped the pigmentation from your camouflaging plants and cordoned it off into my part of this body, and I discovered the true power of the lichen – the ability to merge with all plant matter and move through it undetected! You may think that you were calling all the shots, but ever since my creation I have been waiting for this opportunity.**_

_**"Did you know,"** __he asked in as close to the sickeningly sweet tone the scientist used as he could, __**"that Venus Fly Traps are carnivorous plants? An interesting side effect I've been feeling is hunger for **_**fresh meat**_**...and I believe that it's finally feeding time."**_

_There was a short scream as Zetsu's plant maw descended upon his creator. He stayed long enough for his lighter side to toss the arriving ANBU a bloody, manic grin before sinking once more into the stone and escaping Kusagakure._

It wasn't until later that Zetsu realized he had never learned the name of the man who had cursed him to the existence he now led.

But Zetsu had found that he didn't mind what had happened to him. First of all, he had exacted vengeance upon the scientist who had caused his transformation by both half-disproving his notions of success (for Zetsu did possess several of the abilities predicted by the man, even if others were failures by his own hand) and by killing and partially eating him. Additionally, there was the fact that he was no longer accountable to anyone or anything except himself. It was a rather freeing experience.

Granted, there had been many issues along the way. With the united goal of escaping the laboratory achieved, his two halves found many different topics to disagree upon. The arguments were sometimes nonsensical and almost always counterproductive, especially since they had to share the singular body and often wouldn't move until they reached a consensus. Over time, they had learned to get along out of sheer necessity, with White Zetsu becoming a little more focused and serious and Black Zetsu toning down on his cruelty and general disregard for the other half's foolishness. Compromise, they had discovered, was the optimal choice.

The discovery that they could quite literally become two separate entities for extended periods of time helped, too. Even though they had agreed to stay together for purposes of practicality – Black Zetsu had taken Zetsu's previously limited sensing abilities to a higher level, while White Zetsu could produce copious amounts of clones and chakra-absorbing spores – having the opportunity to move independently allowed for one of them (more commonly Black Zetsu) to relieve any tension caused by the other half. In the end, though, they always came back together, as loyalty to each other was the only ideal they really had to cling to.

So when Naruto came up to him the next day – his _hitae-ate_ proudly displayed on his forehead – and asked if Zetsu would be interested in joining the Hidden Leaf, the plant-man laughed. The sound startled Naruto, primarily because _both_ sides found the question amusing, but also because hearing the sound of dual laughter mingling together was eerie, not to mention a first. **"Do you know what that piece of cloth and metal means?"** asked Black Zetsu as his lighter side continued to giggle.

"Yeah! It means that I'm finally a ninja of Konoha, one step closer to being Hokage!"

**"...Perhaps on some level.** But there's more to it than that. **That headband ensures your loyalty to Konohagakure. From now until the day you die, you will serve as an instrument of its will.** There are things that you'll have to do that you won't like, but obeying your superiors is now a necessity. **Giving up our freedom to serve anyone but ourselves would be a fool's errand."**

"But Zetsu, you seem to know a lot about how shinobi live. Doesn't that mean that you once belonged to a Hidden Village?"

**"Once.** To Kusagakure."

"So…what happened?"

Both sides of Zetsu were silent for a moment. **"They took advantage of our dedication and zeal for our village,"** responded Black Zetsu slowly. **"Our loyalty was used against us, and the bond we had forged with our home was broken.** We learned the hard way to not trust blindly. It is a lesson we keep close to today."

"The only one you can rely on is yourself," whispered Naruto.

**"Exactly.** Did you know that almost all rogue ninja slash their _hitae-ate_ when they leave their village?" Never having come across any nukenin, the blonde shook his head. "They believe that doing so symbolizes cutting all ties to their former homes, the severance of any allegiance or connections they once had to anyone or anything from where they came."

When Zetsu didn't continue his thought, Naruto ventured unsurely, "Well, doesn't it?"

The plant-man shook his head. "No, it doesn't. **Scoring the headband eliminates chosen affiliation with one's village, a mark of disloyalty. But even wearing a slashed _hitae-ate _means that you attribute some part of your being to recognizing what your village has done for you, the influence it had in your upbringing. In keeping it, there is still a tie to your village, a symbol of pride in where your roots are, even if your beliefs are no longer aligned along the same path. It is a reminder of where you came from and how you evolved as a person.** That's why we discarded our own _hitae-ate_ long ago. We keep no ties to Kusa, no feelings of attachment either good or bad."

"What about your parents?" Naruto tried. "Don't you care about how they're doing?"

**"They're dead.** They were killed when Iwagakure invaded during the Third Shinobi World War."

Naruto's expression crumpled into one of shame. "Sorry," he whispered.

"For what?" White Zetsu asked, expression full of innocent curiosity. "You weren't the one who killed them."

"But –"

**"It is pointless to apologize for things which you have no influence over."**

The blonde remained quiet, his head angled down to look away from Zetsu. Apologies were not things he handed out often, or ever, primarily because he never felt he had anything to be sorry for. Most of the pranks he pulled were justified comeuppances served upon those who had wronged him, and the ones that weren't often resulted in him being punished. Besides, he could count the number of people who would actually stand around and listen to him apologize on one hand and still have fingers left over, making the point rather moot.

Apologizing for doing something wrong was one thing, but apologizing because he felt bad? _That_ was an unheard of precedent before now. Empathy was not an emotion he was ignorant of – and in fact, Naruto thought that perhaps he would be good at empathizing, given all the crap he'd put up with throughout his life – but there had never before arisen a situation where he _could_ feel bad for someone. His own life experiences were unparalleled by anyone else within the village, and so the blonde found himself at a slight loss for how to explain the sudden emotional outcry he felt for Zetsu.

His tutor was family-less like him – albeit Zetsu had actually known his parents – and was considered an abomination by the rest of the world, assuming his existence was even known. Even though there were probably stark differences between Zetsu's life and Naruto's, the blonde couldn't help but feel that he and the plant-man shared something few others did.

When the Jinchūriki lifted his head, his blue eyes were solemn, but without pity. "So what're we doing today?" Naruto asked him.

Zetsu was impressed. Given the blonde's propensity for emotional outbursts, he had thought that he would be forced to endure a bout or two of good-intentioned but unnecessary and unwanted platitudes. Instead, Naruto had heard his dismissal, digested it, and moved on with little more than a glimmer of understanding. The boy's measured acceptance of Zetsu's simple words only reinforced the sway the former Kusa-nin had over his blonde pupil. **"Did you bring your weapons?"** Naruto nodded, and White Zetsu continued, "Then we will continue with your target practice. Create some **_Kage Bunshin_** and have them move around. **As your targets are unlikely to remain stationary, you will attempt to hit mobile ones to more accurately simulate field experience.** Learning to strike a moving target will ensure that you can strike an unmoving on. **In fact, the only time you should come across immobile adversaries is if you learn to specialize in assassinations by fully embracing the shinobi code."**

Naruto formed the cross-seal he had learned the previous night for the Shadow Clone Technique, causing a dozen duplicates to pop into existence. They immediately began moving all around the training area as Naruto unraveled the bundle of kunai and senbon on a stump.

He picked up one of the needles, took aim, and let it fly.

-l-l-l-

Naruto trudged somewhat dejectedly through the streets of Konoha. The training session with Zetsu had only gone to show just how much practice he actually needed with regards to projectiles. Granted, given that hitting the stationary target the day before hadn't exactly showcased a hidden talent for weapons-throwing, he shouldn't have been overly surprised to find that hitting moving ones was any simpler, but the realization still stung something fierce. Zetsu – or more precisely, Black Zetsu – had remained shockingly silent on his ineptness, something the blonde found difficult to interpret. It was a boon to not be mocked, but it was also uncharacteristic for the man's darker half to not do so.

Simply another paradox to add to the growing list that defined Zetsu.

The blonde glanced up at the tinkle of a tiny bell, making sure not to bump into whoever was departing one of Konoha's many shops. The sign above him proclaimed 'Yamanaka Flowers' in red letters on a pink background. Remembering that Iruka was still in the hospital because of his actions the previous night, Naruto entered the store with the thought of getting some flowers for his teacher. _Sick people like flowers, right?_

Manning the counter was a girl with platinum blonde hair and baby blue eyes that Naruto recognized as one of Sasuke's worshippers…Ino, if he remembered correctly.

She obviously knew him, if the scowl on her face was any indication. "What do you want, Naruto?" The look she gave him was threatening, almost daring him to try something underhanded in her family's shop.

The blonde held up his hands in a sign of peace. "I'm just here for some flowers. Iruka-sensei was hurt real bad last night because of me, and I wanted to get him something."

Ino's scowl disappeared to be replaced by a scrutinizing expression. Naruto bore the gaze nervously, memories of Sakura's rage-induced strength flashing through his mind alongside the theory that all girls could hit that hard if properly incited. "Alright," she said at last, apparently judging him to be a non-threat, "I know just what you're looking for."

Naruto watched as his fellow blonde bustled about the shop, picking out certain flowers and plunking them into a vase. "I didn't realize you worked here," he tried conversationally, unnerved by the silence. The blonde was used to noise when around other people – his own brash comments, Zetsu's snide remarks or placating explanations, the jeering and laughter of his peers – and not hearing anything was making him more uncomfortable than he already was. Being around Zetsu was forging some modicum of thinking before he acted – stealing the Scroll of Seals notwithstanding – and he was miffed to find that the other students in his age group had good reason to avoid and/or make fun of him. And even though Naruto appreciated what Zetsu was teaching him philosophically, the blonde wasn't entirely sure he wanted to end up like his tutor, alone and distrustful of others.

Naruto was lonely, had always been lonely, and would continue to be lonely unless something changed. If being genial to one of his peers – fangirl of the Uchiha or not – was a requirement of that, he would at least give it a try and see what happened.

Ino straightened from looking over a colorful variety of tulips. "Hm? Yeah, I work here part-time when my parents are busy and we don't have much work from the Academy. Don't know how much time I'll be able to put in now that I'm a Genin…" She trailed off as she took the gathered flora and went behind the counter to start arranging them properly.

Naruto took several steps forward and paused in front of the counter, hands clasped behind his back. "I know that yellow tulips mean 'cheerful thoughts', yellow roses are 'friendship and joy', and the daisies are 'faith'," he said, pointing at each of the flowers in turn, "but what are the blue and orange flowers?"

"These are blue delphinium," Ino responded, moving them to the center of the arrangement, "also known as larkspur, and they represent 'lightness and levity'. The orange ones are alstroemeria, and they mean 'friendship and devotion'." Her hands stilled suddenly in the midst of arranging the flowers. "Wait a minute," she said, sparing Naruto a look somewhere between startled and skeptical, "how do you know all of that?"

"I, ah, met someone who's been teaching me about botany," hazarded the blonde, unwilling to fully reveal Zetsu's role in his life.

"About _flowers?_" Ino checked, shooting him another skeptical look before returning to her work. It seemed the idea of a boy being interested in something that was stereotypically considered girly was a difficult concept for her to wrap her head around.

"Plants in general, actually. Flowers kinda fall under that category. It's been…interesting."

Ino stared at him for a long moment. "You're different," she decided.

"Ah?"

"Less obnoxious."

Naruto's shoulders slumped. "Ah."

The Yamanaka seemed to realize that she hadn't given an appropriate answer. "I mean…when you came in here, I thought you were going to pull some sort of prank. But you haven't, and you haven't said anything about being Hokage or how you can beat Sasuke-kun." Naruto scowled at the mention of his rival's name, but didn't say anything. "It's…nice." She rang up Naruto's order and told him the cost.

As Naruto pulled out his frog-shaped wallet, Ino continued, "I know it's not really a masculine thing to be interested in, but if you'd like, I could teach you more about flowers."

Naruto offered her a smile and handed her the money. "I think that could be fun," he admitted. He grabbed the vase and began to head towards the door. "Ino," he said, pausing before the shop's door, "do you think we could be friends?"

"Mmm, not yet," she replied, not looking up from the register, "but maybe someday." She paused and then continued, "As long as you're not going to be annoying, you can come by whenever you want."

Naruto nodded in acceptance of the backhanded comment and left the store, the goal of making a friend now partially underway.

-l-l-l-

**Author's** **Note:** It's been pointed out to me before that only Akatsuki scratches their forehead protectors, but I find it stupid that other missing-nin wouldn't (let alone keep them), so just imagine that all missing-nin do it. Also, Zetsu's history requires a bit of imagination, but given a lot of things revealed in canon, I don't think it's TOO far a stretch to believe this to be possible.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed/favorited/followed this story simply based on the first chapter! Feel free to let me know what you think of this chapter.


	3. Camaraderie & Solitude

_Given the opportunity to work with others or by yourself, which do you prefer?_

-l-l-l-

Naruto wandered into the forest surrounding his usual training area with Zetsu, absently keeping an eye out for the plant-man while his mind roamed.

He had just passed the _second_ exam to become an official Genin, and while the outcome had eventually been favorable, the path to that conclusion had been littered with pitfalls. Not for the first time, he wished that Zetsu would teach him something more substantial than botany or philosophy. While learning about plants was interesting (and useful, he supposed, when in the field with limited supplies), and being taught to think for himself was proving even more advantageous, it hardly amounted to the proper ninja training that he so drastically needed and desired.

That point had just been proven rather harshly.

His sensei – correction: his, Uchiha Sasuke's, and Haruno Sakura's sensei – had turned out to be a man with silver hair by the name of Hatake Kakashi. The only notable features about the man (aside from the fact that his hair color gave him the appearance of being prematurely aged) were that he wore a face mask and had his _hitae-ate_ slanted so that it covered his left eye. Naruto honestly had no idea what purpose that served, but was loathe to point it out given Black Zetsu's propensity to ridicule his own taste in orange clothing.

The test Kakashi had given his trio of Genin had started the previous day with an order to not eat breakfast, as they were likely to throw it up during 'survival training'. After the fiasco of listening to Mizuki and having his error pointed out to him by Black Zetsu, Naruto had (rather wisely) decided that obeying the simple behest of not eating that morning was a stupid idea. There didn't really seem to be any purpose to not having breakfast (and really, wasn't it a bad idea to do strenuous activity on an empty stomach?), nor did he see any way for Kakashi to know whether or not he had followed the instructions, so he had arrived at the training grounds in a relatively good mood…which had promptly soured when Kakashi had forced them to wait for him.

Unfortunately, the next step – grabbing one of two bells strapped to Kakashi's hip – had dampened his spirits even further. He wasn't stupid enough (anymore) to believe that any of the three Genin actually had a shot at getting a bell; Zetsu's proficiency at throwing senbon and his seemingly infinite knowledge of…well, everything…displayed the gap between himself and the plant-man quite sufficiently. As Kakashi was sure to be on a level close to his tutor, albeit probably with a completely different skill set, Naruto hadn't held much hope of completing the exercise assigned to them.

Still, that knowledge hadn't prevented him from at least putting forth the effort to try and get a bell. Using his Shadow Clones had definitely been a good idea, though Kakashi had been sure to throw off any of his meager attempts at taijutsu by constantly replacing himself with the blonde doppelgangers. The fact that he had been led into such a rudimentary trick as a rope tied to a tree branch had been embarrassing, but not altogether harmful.

That didn't mean that he was going to include it in his report to Zetsu, though.

He had silently watched Sasuke's attempt at getting one of the bells, followed by Sakura's fainting spell after finding the Uchiha buried up to his neck in dirt. Shortly after that point, the timer had gone off, and Kakashi had tied Sakura (who'd done the least to get a bell) to a post, told the trio that the secret to beating him had been teamwork, and given the two boys strict instructions to not feed her. After lunch, they were to try for the bells once more.

There hadn't really been much time to think about the silver-haired man's words. Sasuke had opted into sharing his lunch with Sakura, and Naruto – more because he wasn't as hungry as the others than because he thought all three of them being energized would help them get the bells – had followed the other boy's example. At that point, Kakashi had appeared, and after putting on a façade of anger, he had informed the trio that they had passed. However pleased he was by his success, it was Kakashi's parting words that kept ringing in Naruto's head, driving him to seek out his dual-toned tutor.

"_Those who break the rules and codes of the ninja are called 'trash'. But, you know what? Those who don't take care of their comrades…are lower than trash."_

The teamwork speech had been hard to swallow…that last message, delivered with such conviction, had completely contradicted the very breakthrough that he had had two nights ago with Black Zetsu.

**"Hello, child.** Finished training with your team, Naruto-kun?"

_Speak of the devil. Devils? Gah, whatever!_ "Yes…er, no. I…don't know."

"You seem troubled."

Naruto frowned, though the expression wasn't directed at Zetsu's disturbing ability to read him so well. "I'm confused," he admitted. "I met with my team today, and my sensei said something that was…weird."

"What did he say?" prompted White Zetsu.

"That people who break ninja rules are 'trash', but that those who don't take care of their comrades are 'worse than trash'," the blonde recited. "He seemed to really emphasize teamwork."

Black Zetsu made a sound that Naruto thought might be a bark of laughter. **"Unsurprising."**

"Really?"

**"Konoha's shinobi are firm believers in the Will of Fire," **Black Zetsu explained. **"It is a faith that causes them to risk themselves in an effort to protect those weaker than them, whether they are the next generation or the people working with them on a mission."**

"You…don't agree with it," Naruto stated, though the hesitance in his voice made it sound more like a question. Black Zetsu's snort of derision told him it was a stupid one to voice, most likely because he already knew the answer.

**"What should it matter to you if your teammates perish on a mission?** **Does it affect your well-being or performance?"**

"Well, what if they're your friend?"

This time, the laughter emanating from Zetsu's darker side was far more recognizable. **"Are your teammates your friends?"**

Naruto opened his mouth to reply, but then closed it, thinking.

Kakashi was his superior, and a too recent addition to Naruto's world to be considered anything more than that. If the man's beliefs were anything to go by, Naruto could trust the Jōnin to protect him, but he wasn't sure he could classify their relationship as anything beyond a strictly student-teacher one.

Sasuke was a rival, or had been, at any rate. He was a measuring stick by which Naruto could judge – had always judged, in a way – his own progress, though now that he thought about it, trying to track his own abilities against that of someone who was also growing wasn't a very accurate gauge of how far he'd come. Using someone whose relative power had hit a sort of plateau – Kakashi or Zetsu, perhaps – was a better choice to judge his own improvements against. But even beyond that new revelation, Sasuke was a very aloof individual, never partaking in group activities the Academy hadn't forced him into, and choosing to distance himself from others. His very nature would make it difficult, if not impossible, to become friendly with him, and even his teamwork mindset during the bell test had only come around because Kakashi hadn't really given them any other option in the matter.

Sakura was the girl he had a crush on…but now that he was trying to analyze her objectively, he realized that he had no reason to be interested in her. Sure, she was a good student (and even kind of cute), and if she applied herself, she could probably be a decent kunoichi, but her treatment of him was rather poor. All of his efforts to be nice to her over the years (as over-the-top and perhaps obnoxious as they had been) had gone to waste – Sakura possessed eyes for Sasuke and only Sasuke. During the bell test, she hadn't even made an appearance until Kakashi had trapped Sasuke beneath the earth, and after waking up from passing out, she had immediately helped her crush out of his predicament. Naruto – hanging from the rope trap nearby, plotting his next move – had been conveniently ignored by her throughout the entire exercise.

They weren't friends…they were just people he had been partnered with to continue his ninja career.

_Huh…_ It was a little weird to acknowledge that Zetsu's method of forcing him to think things through had given him insight that, several weeks ago, he had never possessed. Seeing things from an objective, unbiased point of view was rather eye-opening. He made a mental note to not complain about Zetsu's teaching methodology the next time the thought cropped up.

The comprehension must have shown on his face, for White Zetsu said, "It looks like you understand."

"Yeah…"

"I'm surprised you asked us such a question," White Zetsu observed. "We thought our position on such things was made clear to you."

"It was! I just…" He frowned again, scratching the side of his head. "Sometimes I forget that you're set in your ways, and…I dunno, it's weird to have people teach you conflicting things."

**"You're quite impressionable."**

"Uh, thanks."

**"It was not a compliment.** **It is a handicap.** Once you get an idea in your head, it sticks there," elaborated White Zetsu. "However, the new idea tends to dislodge any of the old ones you have, making you lose focus of what your original opinion was. **This matter is a good example of that."**

"So," Naruto began, working through this train of thought, "if you don't like me learning other peoples' opinions, why didn't you just say that your opinion was the right one?"

**"You should be able to learn these lessons on your own merit. What purpose is served by feeding you the answers? Experience is the hallmark of learning."**

"That's true…"

**"We are also not so arrogant as to believe that our philosophy is the only correct one."** Naruto's expression must have displayed his confusion, for White Zetsu continued, "It is merely the one that we have concluded best suits our life based on past experiences. Villages such as Konohagakure and Iwagakure would have not survived long by adhering to principles such as the Will of Fire or the Will of Stone if they were not successful ideologies. **We simply believe them to be foolish faiths to put stock in."**

"…You're confusing."

White Zetsu tittered lightly, and when Black Zetsu spoke, Naruto could almost imagine that he was scowling. **"And you're mindless,"** he retorted, **"a trait which we are trying to rectify."**

Naruto peered at his mentor curiously, unfazed by the insult. Black Zetsu had delivered the line without any of the venom he usually put into his snarls, and so Naruto knew that he didn't really mean it. But the green-haired man had a strange habit of talking in circles and contradictions, and so sometimes it took a bit of thought to get to the point he was trying to make.

Zetsu seemed to be trying to tell him that while there were other ideals people clung to, it was his ideal of relying only on himself that provided the most accurate representation of what to expect from life. Experience was a better teacher than pretty words that had no evidence to back them up – as Kakashi's parting philosophy tutored – and Naruto's exploits had taught him that…well, that Zetsu's philosophy held more water than Kakashi's. Or Konoha's. After all, who aside from the Hokage and Iruka had ever protected him, or gone out of their way to help him?

He was alone, and unlikely to turn Sasuke and Sakura into his comrades, given their personalities. Not that that would prevent him from trying – he was nothing if not stubbornly persistent – but honesty forced him to admit that the likelihood was slim.

Once again, he was struck by the realization that Zetsu's methods really were quite effective. "Hey, Zetsu? How long have you been alone?"

The pupil in the white side's yellow eye shifted so that it was closer to Black Zetsu. Naruto imagined that the two halves were holding a private conversation. "Over 13 years now," he replied. "Why?"

"Curious," responded the blonde, returning to his introspection. Zetsu had been alone for longer than he had been alive. That was a little sad, given the events of his own life, but it also explained why the plant-man was so attached to his ways; with over a decade of being by himself, it was no wonder Zetsu scoffed at any philosophies that promoted friendship and reliance upon others.

For a brief moment, Naruto considered asking Zetsu if _they_ were friends, but then decided against it. Not only was their relationship still relatively new (not to mention seeming more of a teacher-student one than anything else), Naruto wasn't sure he wanted to hear what Zetsu considered him. Given Zetsu's personality, the plant-man was unlikely to deem Naruto his friend, and given the only partially successful quest the previous day to try and befriend Ino, the blonde didn't think he could stand being rejected (again), especially not by the person he was currently closest to.

If he wanted friends or comrades, it would be more prudent to start with the people his own age that he already had established, positive relationships with. Given that most of his peers tended to mock or ignore him, his options were rather limited. Despite her hesitance, Ino seemed like the safest bet, as she at least seemed willing to give him a chance to prove himself, and as an added bonus, her teammates were Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Chōji, people whom he had hung around in the past and got along with decently.

Plus, it was possible that he could gain insight into the process of strengthening bonds with his own teammates by observing the other three Genin in action. It wasn't exactly what Zetsu wanted him to do, but then again, the former Kusa-nin had just admitted that his philosophy wasn't the only right one. If the plant-man could be wrong about one thing (though, as it stood now, his arguments all held a lot of merit), who was to say he couldn't be wrong about others? Would it really be such a bad idea to try to turn Sasuke and Sakura into his comrades, to make friends?

Black Zetsu had already stated that Naruto shouldn't trust his opinions, he should trust only what made the most sense. If experience was the hallmark of learning, then the blonde should at least be willing to give his teammates the opportunity to become comrades and/or friends before making any final decision about them prematurely.

Naruto broke out of his musing to find Zetsu staring at him, a speculative look on the white side of the former Kusa-nin's face. He blinked, mildly unnerved by the scrutiny, and stammered, "I'm, ah, gonna go…do something. Is that…okay?"

**"You do not need our permission to leave.** Our lesson will merely be postponed. **Seek us out when you desire another one."**

The blonde was a little surprised at how…tame…his tutor's reaction to his leaving was, but tried not to focus on it. He nodded once and hastily left the forest, uncomfortably aware of Zetsu's far-too-knowledgeable yellow eyes on his back as he did so.

-l-l-l-

Naruto tried to organize his thoughts as he made his way toward the Twelfth Training Ground. He had stopped by Yamanaka Flowers just to make sure that Ino wasn't working, and the man behind the counter – a man the blonde presumed to be Ino's father – had pointed him in the direction of Team 10's training area upon inquiring about Ino's whereabouts.

The Jinchūriki entered the Twelfth Training Ground and found his fellow blonde standing next to a boy with dark hair tied in a spiky ponytail (vaguely resembling a pineapple) who was reclining on the ground, hands laced behind his head. In comparison to Ino – who was avidly watching a spar between a chubby boy with light brown hair and a tall, sturdily built man Naruto guessed was Team 10's sensei – the dark-haired boy had his eyes closed, an aura of boredom and relaxation emanating off of him.

Naruto coughed to announce his presence, and Ino whirled around, her long ponytail whipping through the air. Nara Shikamaru opened one brown eye lazily and grunted, "Naruto," in greeting before returning to his previous activity of trying to sleep.

"Hey Shikamaru," he greeted, before turning to the boy's teammate and adding, "Ino."

"Naruto," she returned, and there was a definite note of caution in her voice, as if she was unsure why he was around. He was distinctly reminded of her hesitance and skepticism when he had entered the flower shop the other day, and knew that turning Ino into his friend would require a lot of work to change the opinion she had of him from the Academy. "What are you doing here?"

He shrugged. "Kakashi-sensei dismissed us for the day after we passed his stupid bell test, so I thought I'd come see how you guys are doing." He paused before continuing, "Actually, I also had some things I wanted to ask you…"

"Not now!" she hissed, but the damage was already done.

Shikamaru's drawling voice interjected itself into the conversation. "Wait a minute…Naruto, you came here to talk to _Ino?_" His brown eyes – both now open with interest – narrowed suspiciously. "When did you two get so chummy?"

Naruto opened his mouth to reply, but Ino beat him to the punch. "Naruto's taken an interest in flowers," she shot back hotly. "He's manly enough to not be afraid of what others might think of him taking up a _girly_ hobby. Maybe if you weren't so lazy, you'd find it interesting, too."

The Nara stared at his teammate for a long moment before closing his eyes with an uttered, "Troublesome. It's too much effort to argue with a woman."

Ino made a disgusted noise in the back of her throat, but a deep voice cut across any remark she might have made. "Oh, we have a visitor. Who's this?"

Naruto looked up to find Team 10's Jōnin-sensei standing before him, Akimichi Chōji digging through a bag of chips at his side. The man was over six feet tall, with short black hair and a pointed beard; a cigarette hanging from his lips and a white sash decorated with the red kanji for 'fire' inscribed in a black circle were the only additions to the standard Jōnin outfit of the Hidden Leaf. While the Jinchūriki took in the appearance of the man, Ino said, "Asuma-sensei, this is Naruto. He graduated with us, and he's interested in becoming my protégé at the flower shop."

"Is that so?"

Ino nudged him with her elbow, and Naruto managed, "Ah, yes…Asuma-sensei. Sorry for interrupting," he added, attempting politeness for a good first impression.

"It's no problem. I was just about done with these guys anyway." He blew out a cloud of smoke. "You can go, but we're meeting here at the same time tomorrow, Ino."

"Got it."

"You're welcome back here anytime you want," Asuma addressed Naruto, "provided that it doesn't interfere with whatever Kakashi has planned for you."

Naruto started at the man's knowledge of who his teacher was without knowing who _he_ was, but then deduced from Asuma's slight grin that his identity had been known all along. "Thanks, Asuma-sensei. Bye Chōji, Shikamaru." Both boys offered him departing waves before Ino tugged on his arm and dragged him away.

"Jeez," Ino griped before he could say anything, "I can't believe you came to our training grounds to see me. There's no telling what Shikamaru and Chōji would've thought if I hadn't come up with the excuse that you're interested in flowers. And it's a good thing Asuma-sensei seemed to like you, too, otherwise that might've gone pretty badly. How'd you even know where I was, anyway?"

"Uh, your dad, I think."

"You told my dad you were looking for me? I'm going to have to do so much damage control when I get home…"

"Um," Naruto tried, noticing that they weren't heading to Yamanaka Flowers as he had assumed, "where're we going?"

"Away from prying eyes," was the response. Naruto remained silent as Ino eventually led him into a lush field of tall grass and simple flowers. The platinum blonde released his arm and seated herself somewhat huffily, gesturing for Naruto to do the same. When he had done so, she closed her eyes and took several deep breaths before reopening them; her face held much less tension than when she had been speaking to her teammates and sensei. "Look, I'm sorry about before. I'm not really comfortable enough yet with this whole situation to have it known that you and I are…" she grappled about for the right words, "on speaking terms."

The admission didn't sting as much as Naruto thought it might, though he supposed that, realistically, as he and Ino had never really interacted before the previous day, it was foolish to believe that she would be willing to freely associate with him so soon. Still… "How come?"

"Well, my reputation is…" she started, then realized that was the wrong thing to say, and said instead, "your reputation…mm… People like us normally don't mesh well," she decided on. "It would just raise all sorts of questions that I don't want to have to answer yet, and Shikamaru already seems suspicious. He'll figure it out before long."

The conversation was already going in the direction Naruto wanted, so he prodded it along by prompting, "Shikamaru? But he was practically as bad as me back in the Academy."

"He's a lot smarter than people give him credit for," Ino elaborated. "Trust me, if anyone would find out that you and I are…getting together more than normal –" the word 'friends' still seemed beyond her, at least for the moment, "— it'll be Shikamaru."

_Now_ they were getting somewhere; Ino had pretty much led the conversation directly into the area he wanted to discuss. Naruto tilted his head curiously. "You seem to know a lot about Shikamaru even though we just got sorted into teams the other day."

Ino nodded absently and picked at the surrounding grass, ripping individual blades into even smaller pieces. "I've known Shikamaru and Chōji for a couple of years now," she told him. "Our dads were all on the same Genin team as the previous generation of the Ino-Shika-Chō formation." At Naruto's bewildered expression, Ino sighed. "Members of the Yamanaka, Nara, and Akimichi clans have worked together since the era of the Clan Wars…" she trailed off as Naruto's face became even more distorted with confusion; she grumbled exasperatedly. "Honestly…

"Before the founding of the Hidden Villages, individual clans fought over rights, land, power…the usual. While most clans fought by themselves, the abilities of the Yamanaka, Nara, and Akimichi clans have always worked best when used in tandem, and so they banded together to pose a more powerful threat to their enemies. That was the birth of the Ino-Shika-Chō combination.

"When the Uchiha and Senju clans founded Konoha, they extended invitations to several other clans to join them; one of them, the Sarutobi clan, invited the Yamanaka, Nara, and Akimichi clans to join alongside it. They all agreed, along with the Hyūga, Aburame, Inuzuka, and Kurama clans, and thus Konoha was born." She lifted her hand and jingled the small, silver, hoop earring dangling from her left lobe with her pointer finger. "These earrings are my dad's. Each member of the next generation of Ino-Shika-Chō is given a set by the previous generation from the time they become Genin to the time they become Chūnin. After Shikamaru, Chōji, and I become Chūnin, a member of the Sarutobi clan – which Asuma-sensei is part of – will give us our own earrings, to symbolize our oath to work together, and protect both each other and Konoha."

Naruto tried not to show Ino how impressed he was with the vast amount of information that she knew, but was sure that he failed. He wanted to ask if there had been an Uzumaki clan that had joined Konoha – information about the family he had never known would certainly be interesting – but when he opened his mouth, he asked instead, "How do you know all of that?"

His female companion gently ran a finger over the petals of a nearby yellow flower. "Some things from the Academy, others from my dad."

When Ino didn't immediately say anything else, Naruto prompted, "So I guess there's an important connection among yours, Shikamaru's, and Chōji's families, huh?"

"That's the simplest way of putting it, yes," Ino replied. "Anyway, because of our dads' friendship and our clans' traditions, Shikamaru, Chōji, and I were pretty much guaranteed to be put on the same team. Our families have gotten together for stuff plenty of times before, so we're pretty used to each other. We get along well enough, even if Shikamaru is a bit lazy and Chōji could stand to lose some weight."

"Do you consider them your friends?"

The platinum blonde was silent for a long moment, fiddling again with the flora surrounding her. "I suppose so," she admitted. "I've never really thought about it in that way before. It's not like we're best friends or anything, but we have history and camaraderie. I doubt our team would work together as well as we're supposed to if we weren't friends."

Naruto frowned a little at that answer. From the way Ino was speaking, her team had practically been destined to be together since she, Chōji, and Shikamaru had been born, if not since at least the time they had entered the Academy together. Their families had pre-established connections, and they had known the ins and outs of each others' personalities for several years because of those bonds. As far as teamwork went, Team 10 was stacked heavily in favor of being able to cooperate easily with each other. In fact, it sounded as if they were _forced_ to work together to complement the others' skill sets. That was merely a guess, as the blonde had no idea what the techniques of the Yamanaka, Nara, and Akimichi clans were, but to have a bond among their clans that spanned generations hinted towards his guess being accurate.

He had gotten answers to his questions, but none of them pointed to him having any chance of befriending Sasuke and Sakura. To have already been friendly with her teammates before being placed together was a situation that hadn't occurred to Naruto before asking for Ino's opinions, especially given her lack of attention to Shikamaru and Chōji during their time at the Academy. It didn't seem fair that she had such fortune when he was faced with the exact opposite situation, but then again, he was partly to blame for Sasuke's and Sakura's attitudes towards him. He couldn't really imagine wanting to be friends with his Academy-self either.

The blonde caught Ino's voice asking him something, but he missed the question. "Er, sorry, what was that?"

Ino huffed. "I _said_, can't you be friends with Billboard Brow and Sasuke-kun?"

Naruto opened his mouth to offer a derogatory retort about the Uchiha, but his brain reminded him that insulting Sasuke in front of Ino was a bad idea, both for his physical health and for any potential friendship they might kindle. Swallowing his immediate response, he said, "Well, Sasuke –" it burned a little to not tack on the 'teme' like he wanted to, but he felt that that might be something he would have to get used to "— isn't really interested in making friends. And Sakura-chan is too obsessed with him to pay me any attention."

"That lucky Billboard Brow," Ino growled, glaring at her clenched fists, "getting placed on a team with Sasuke-kun. It's no wonder she won't pay you any mind with someone as cool as Sasuke-kun nearby." She looked up to see Naruto flinch back at her comment, and immediately gritted her teeth in regret. "Sorry, I didn't mean to make it sound like –"

"It's…it's fine. I'm used to it."

Ino frowned. "It's not fine. You seem like you're trying really hard to be different, even if I don't know why, and I keep treating you unfairly. You didn't even insult Sasuke-kun like you normally do."

"Yeah, well…I've gotta be nice to him if we wanna be friends, right?"

The platinum blonde stared at her companion for a moment. "Why _do_ you want to be friends with me, anyway? It's not like we ever hung out in the Academy or anything." Her eyes narrowed dangerously. "Unless this is all one elaborate prank…"

Naruto stretched out his arms and shook them, hastily stating, "No no no, that's not it at all!" He crossed his arms and furrowed his brow, staring intently at his lap. "I guess you could say that I wanted to change, and you were the first person I came across who might be willing to give me a chance."

"So it's just because I was convenient, huh?" There was a dangerous timbre in her voice, as if she was offended by his reasoning.

Naruto was either oblivious to it or chose to ignore it. "Well, at first, I guess you could say that." His head came up at the sound of Ino cracking her knuckles threateningly. "But then I thought that you were interesting." Ino's hands dropped into her lap, her face releasing some of her anger. "You were willing to teach me more about flowers, and you're not afraid to speak honestly about things, which is a lesson I've come to appreciate recently. I guess I'm saying that I respect your opinions."

"Oh. Well, thanks."

"Sure."

"Don't think that means I like you any more or anything, though!" she warned.

Naruto grinned lopsidedly at her defensiveness before returning to stare at the grass. There was silence between them for a minute – Ino returning to shredding green blades in mild embarrassment for losing her temper so easily, Naruto sitting with his arms crossed, thinking – before the male blonde asked, "Do you think it's possible for a team to work well together without being friends?"

Ino looked at the boy before her. The expression on his face wasn't worried or even angry, like she thought it might be, but simply curious; he genuinely wanted to know her opinion on a subject he would most likely have to deal with, perhaps even draw insight from her answer so he could properly mingle with his teammates. "I don't know," she replied, opting for the honesty he said he appreciated. Naruto nodded, as if he had expected that answer, and the furrow between his eyebrows grew a little deeper. "But," she continued, trying to lighten the tenseness in his face, "maybe if you continue to be…uh…"

"Not annoying?" Naruto suggested.

She flinched a little at the candor, wondering why everything she said to Naruto seemed to come out wrong; it never bothered her before, but with him trying to be a better person (and that wasn't quite right either, but she didn't have another way of describing it), it seemed unfair to continue labeling him with old prejudices. Change, she supposed, would come with time. "Yeah, maybe if you act around them like you're acting around me, they'll be willing to become your friends."

"Mm…"

Ino stood up after another bout of silence and brushed off her clothes. "Come on, I promised you a lesson, didn't I? I'll even introduce you to Dad if he's still at the shop…meeting someone's family is a good step to becoming good friends."

Naruto seemed to brighten at that announcement. "Really?"

"Sure. Plus, he knows a lot more about flowers than I do. And," she added as they began to leave the field, "if you ever want to take Asuma-sensei up on his offer to come visit us, you can. Maybe you should pretend sometimes that you came to see Shikamaru and Chōji, though, okay? Until I'm used to…whatever this is," she finished, gesturing between them.

"Yeah, okay."

As they walked out of the field, a pair of yellow eyes watched silently from within the confines of a young tree.

-l-l-l-

_One Week Later_

_Jeez,_ Naruto thought, watching Sakura try to entertain the brown-haired grandchild of some important village elder, _this kid is annoying. Is this what it was like for people to be around me? Now I _really_ understand why everyone stayed away from me. If only I had some sort of poison to make him be quiet or sit still or _something_…_

His musing on his lack of poisons – something he had intended to work on but kept putting off – was cut short as a toy block clocked him on the side of the head. He grabbed the block off the floor and was prepared to throw it back at the kid when a glare from Sakura stopped him. The pink-haired girl had insisted on entertaining the child herself as Naruto's presence aggravated him – _prejudice,_ he wondered, _passed down from his parents and grandparents?_ – and Sasuke hadn't been interested in what he deemed to be simple babysitting (though Naruto privately thought that Sakura enjoyed the opportunity to show her crush how good she was with children all on her own, anyway).

Deciding that getting Sakura on his case wasn't worth the trouble of petty revenge, he released the block and slumped back against the wall he had been leaning against, sliding to the floor. "How much longer do we hafta be here?"

"Until the client returns," Kakashi reminded him from his position in the corner, nose buried in his book.

Naruto grumbled to himself, but then turned to Sasuke, who was seated further along the wall with one arm placed atop his bent knee. "Hey, Sasuke, once this mission is over, do you wanna train?"

The Uchiha shot him a dark look. "There's no point in training with someone who's beneath me."

"Now, now, Sasuke," Kakashi inserted, "there's no need to be rude." Sasuke harrumphed, but said nothing else; neither did Kakashi. Naruto wondered what the point of giving his opinion was if the silver-haired man wasn't actually going to do anything, and decided to turn his attention to his other teammate.

"What about you, Sakura-chan? Wanna go do something afterwards?"

"How many times do I have to tell you that I don't want to go on a date with you, Naruto?" she replied, half-distracted by their charge.

"No, I didn't mean like…" The blonde sighed. "Never mind."

He had tried on and off for the past week to make some headway on becoming more friendly with his teammates in an effort to increase their camaraderie, but it had come to no avail. Ino's advice, while sound, had so far been unable to disprove his initial estimation of Team 7, which merely proved that Zetsu was, once again, right. What worked for Ino, who had prior history and a (mostly) good relationship with her teammates, was clearly not working for him.

Zetsu had said that his philosophy wasn't necessarily the correct one, just the one most applicable to his lifestyle. Naruto was willing to give other ones a try simply to see if they worked – and because ending up as alone as Zetsu seemed a horrible way to live his life (though as Zetsu had pointed out, he was already well on his way there) – but Kakashi's idea of camaraderie was so far proving fruitless.

_Well,_ he thought, gazing around the room at the people he was stuck working with, _I guess I'll just hafta make do for now. With any luck, I won't hafta worry about defending or abandoning my supposed comrades._

_Zetsu was right…I can't rely on anyone but myself._

-l-l-l-

**Author's** **Note:** I'll admit that I'm not the biggest fan of Team 7, but I'm trying to reflect their personalities here from an unbiased point of view. I've been rereading the first several dozen chapters of the manga to get a more accurate gauge of their characterization, so hopefully it doesn't look like I'm bashing anyone. Next chapter will delve into Naruto's opinions in more detail. Thanks to all of you who reviewed the previous chapter, and feel free to let me know what you thought of this one; I'll see you again in 3 weeks.


	4. Reliance & Autonomy

_Are you comfortable being used by others, or would you rather forge your own path, heedless of the outcome?_

-l-l-l-

Naruto sat in a field comprised of short grass and leafy plants, examining the surrounding flora with careful hands. It was still rather early in the morning, and beads of dew allowed his fingers to glide smoothly over the greenery.

Five days had passed since Team 7 had arrived in the Land of Waves, during which time Kakashi had assigned him, Sasuke, and Sakura to learn how to climb trees using only chakra. Fortunately, his time spent in the company of Asuma and Team 10 had given him some insight into that exercise already, allowing him to complete it a little ahead of his dark-haired teammate (who would certainly get the hang of it within the next day). Now, with that under his belt, he had finally found the opportunity to sneak out of the house they were staying in to explore the surrounding area.

He thought that Zetsu might be pleased with his initiative to learn about the different vegetation of the various countries, an effort to expand his education on his own merit. It was, perhaps, the one positive aspect of the mission thus far.

Despite his own irritation at performing D-rank missions (which were essentially equivalent to chores) – a fact that Zetsu found highly amusing, for some reason – it was Sasuke who had politely insisted upon being assigned a mission of a higher caliber. After some thought, the Hokage had given in and assigned them a C-rank mission to escort Tazuna the bridge builder back to his home country of the Land of Waves.

Things had gone south pretty quickly after leaving the Hidden Leaf, a pair of missing-nin known as the Demon Brothers attacking them along the trail. Though he and Sasuke had held them off with only mild effort, it was Kakashi who had eventually captured and interrogated them; the silver-haired man had then allowed his team to continue the mission by way of majority vote, despite any potential danger ahead.

For his own part, Naruto hadn't particularly cared one way or the other about the changed mission classification. While his teammates had been irked at their client's deception, Naruto had (silently) appreciated Tazuna's misdirection. The man had done everything in his power to ensure that his request would be taken, to make sure that his livelihood and the livelihood of his fellows would improve. It felt kind of like a corollary to Zetsu's philosophy of relying only on one's self – in order to accomplish what you wanted, you did whatever it took to get results. Granted, Tazuna was working for the benefit of his entire village instead of for himself, but that was a minor quibble; the theory was still applicable.

Still, the blonde had gone along with his teammates' decision simply to explore other lands. There were sure to be different species of flora in the Land of Waves than in the Land of Fire, and searching for them would pose an interesting experience.

Unfortunately, more trouble had arrived in the form of a man known as the Demon of the Hidden Mist, Momochi Zabuza. Kakashi had fought the former member of the Mist's Seven Shinobi Swordsmen to what had basically amounted to a standstill, as Zabuza had been incapacitated (apparently not killed, as Kakashi had originally assumed) by an accomplice, while the silver-haired man had passed out from chakra exhaustion.

Hence Kakashi's focus on preparing his team for the eventual rematch with Zabuza and his associate.

None of that really mattered at the current time, though. While Kakashi predicted that Zabuza would attack Tazuna within the next couple of days, Naruto knew that his sensei would be the one fighting the A-rank nukenin while he and his teammates protected their client. So, in the meantime, the blonde would enjoy the brief break granted to him by his completion of the tree-climbing exercise to indulge in botany.

The difference in climate between the Land of Waves and the Land of Fire made a nice contrast to what plants grew in each country. While the forests and fields which surrounded and comprised Konoha were filled with brightly colored flowers and deep green canopies, the vegetation in the Land of Waves (at least where he was) was short and dull. There were tall trees interspersed in clumps throughout the nation, but they didn't seem to have any of the liveliness that permeated the greenery of the Land of Fire.

Most interesting were the groves of mangrove trees that decorated the shores of the island nation. Such foliage was unusual in the Land of Fire, where salt water sources capable of growing them were rare. He didn't think they had much in the way of medicinal or poisonous properties, but simply observing the different environments of other countries was rather cool.

Naruto's perusal of the plants in the field was interrupted by the soft padding of approaching footsteps stepping on dew-coated grass. Playing it safe, he scooted backwards until he could feel bark against his back before allowing his head to flop to the side, appearing to the world that he had merely fallen asleep against a tree.

The footsteps came close enough that Naruto could feel a presence standing beside him. There was a rustle of cloth as the person knelt down, and Naruto fought every instinct that shouted for him to stab a kunai into the gentle hand that was placed on his arm. "You probably shouldn't sleep out here," said a soft voice.

Naruto opened his blue eyes with deliberate lethargy, trying to maintain the appearance of having just been sleeping. "Nnn…hm?" He blinked slowly to add to the effect. "Oh…I must've fallen asleep while training. Thanks for waking me up."

The girl kneeling before him offered up a soft smile. "It was no problem. I wouldn't want you to catch a cold."

Naruto crossed his legs and adjusted his position so he was leaning more comfortably against the tree, blue eyes taking in the features of his new companion. Black hair fell down to the middle of her back, framing her large brown eyes. She wore a sleeveless, pink kimono with purple swirls that was held together by a white obi, and the light colors made her pale skin look even more so; a dark choker around her neck was the only contrast to the alabaster color. "How come you're out here so early?"

"I was looking for some plants." She blinked doe-like brown eyes at him. "Judging by your headband, you must be a ninja…would you be willing to help me?"

Zetsu's voice echoed in his head, reminding him that people could only rely on themselves, should be able to take care of themselves, and accomplish tasks by themselves. Naruto chose to ignore it in favor of potentially learning about some of the plants native to the Land of Waves that he couldn't identify. "Sure," he answered. "What are you looking for?"

His companion held out a basket containing several different types of flora. Blue eyes gazed over the collection, widening slightly at some of them. "Is something the matter?" the girl asked.

Naruto shook his head in response. "I've just never paid much attention to the different kinds of plants before. Do you know what all these do?" he asked, making his eyes bigger to further express his awe.

"Of course," replied the girl, hands searching the surrounding grasses.

When she didn't elaborate, Naruto also got on his hands and knees and began looking for the desired vegetation, though he kept his companion in his periphery, wary of her motives. Although he couldn't say for sure what all the herbs in the girl's basket did, Zetsu's lessons had taught him the properties of some of them. He recognized yarrow and what Zetsu liked to refer to as 'chase-devil' (though Naruto knew it better as goatweed), both of which were known for their medicinal properties in healing wounds, relieving pain, and clotting blood…all symptoms which Zabuza would be experiencing. And the former Mist shinobi _did _have an assistant…

Naruto mentally tried to rid himself of that thought. Just because he and his teammates were preparing for the Demon of the Hidden Mist to return didn't mean that every random person collecting herbs was suspicious. Sakura had told them the state of Wave's citizens the other day, and it didn't seem like looking for cheap herbal remedies would be uncharacteristic for any one of the natives.

Then again, that _would_ provide the perfect cover for any assassin hiding in their midst…

He sighed quietly; Zetsu's lessons had nurtured a healthy sense of paranoia that was unbelievably frustrating to deal with.

Still, it would do to be cautious around this stranger, _just in case_. After all, he didn't even know her name.

Just as he opened his mouth to ask his companion that exact question, she asked him, "Do you have someone who is important to you?"

"…Huh?"

"Someone important to you," repeated the girl, "a precious person who you would do anything for."

Naruto didn't respond right away, instead keeping his attention focused on the greenery he was picking. The question was familiar – if worded differently – to one he had been forced to answer almost a month before, and he wondered if anything had changed in that time.

Kakashi had proven to be as distant with his students as he had the first day they'd met, when his answers to his own 'getting to know you' questions had been vague and uninformative. The silver-haired man kept himself removed from the interactions of his three Genin on missions, interjecting at intervals only when he felt a fight might break out or his students were losing sight of the mission parameters. His protection of the three of them plus Tazuna during Zabuza's initial attack had affirmed his dedication to his own 'protect your comrades' speech – which Naruto found himself appreciative of, because _holy crap_ was Zabuza out of their league strength-wise – but otherwise the Jōnin had shown himself to be reserved and withdrawn.

Unfortunately, that personality quirk had carried over to his training methodology, a trait that Naruto found rather irritating. It was, he felt, a Jōnin-sensei's duty to teach his students useful skills which would help them in the field, and Kakashi's lessons had so far been quite lacking in substance. The silver-haired man seemed to believe that simply allowing his subordinates to perform D-rank missions would build their teamwork – a quality he continued to place emphasis on, despite all evidence to the contrary of his team embracing it with open arms – to levels sufficient enough to survive in the field. Zetsu had been correct when he had told Naruto not to put his faith in others to assist him, as Kakashi had yet to do so.

Not only had his teamwork plan proved to be flawed, but Kakashi had a habit of showing up long past the time he had assigned his team to meet up, resulting in hours wasted doing nothing. After three days of confirming this pattern, Naruto had decided that his time would be better spent doing anything else – sleeping, for instance – and hadn't shown up until several hours after Kakashi's designated meeting time. Surprisingly, the Jōnin had already been there when he had arrived, and he had reprimanded the blonde for his tardiness, emphasizing that punctuality was an important trait for shinobi.

Naruto had quickly pointed out his teacher's hypocrisy, stating that if Kakashi couldn't be bothered to show up on time, then why should he? When Kakashi had shown up late the next day – though not by his usual amount – Naruto had returned the favor by showing up late the day after that. From there, the competition had spiraled into a routine of either Kakashi or Naruto being late, with only a few occasions where they both showed up on time.

If the Jōnin had reported him to the Hokage – as he'd threatened to do – Naruto had yet to hear anything. But Kakashi and his philosophy promoting teamwork and his lack of training exercises were only one part of the problem; Naruto's teammates were the other part.

Sasuke had shown himself to be as antisocial as Naruto had originally predicted and remembered from his Academy days. There were moments during certain missions where the dark-haired boy had proven himself capable of working with others, but after awhile, Naruto had started to realize that the boy was only doing it either because Kakashi was forcing him to or because he didn't trust his teammates to complete the job successfully. That analysis had been confirmed when Sasuke had gone along with Naruto's convoluted plan to free Kakashi from Zabuza's Water Prison Technique during their first battle only after determining that he couldn't beat Zabuza's Water Clone on his own. Even then, the Uchiha had been rather skeptical that his teammate's plan would work, probably because it was _Naruto's_ plan, and heaven forbid if he could do anything right.

The dark-haired boy's arrogance was perhaps his most vexing personality quirk. Naruto had known of the Uchiha clan years ago – they were honestly hard to miss, patrolling the streets with a red and white fan sewn into the collars of their clothes – and their power had been rumored to be the strongest within Konoha. Their downfall was a travesty, and the blonde felt bad for Sasuke, knowing what it was like to have no family around, but the last Uchiha seemed to be riding the coattails of his clan's reputation. Sure, Sasuke was strong – probably the strongest Genin of their graduating year, if not at least the most well-rounded ability-wise – but his inability to grant those he saw beneath him the time of day was grating. Every invitation to hang out together that Naruto had offered the Uchiha in an attempt to befriend him – per Ino's suggestion – had been rejected with some statement about how the blonde was inferior to him.

Worse than Sasuke, though (and Naruto was amazed at how that could even be possible), was Sakura. The pink-haired girl had a single-minded determination that centered around only one thought – Sasuke. Her infatuation (crush, love, whatever it was…Naruto honestly wasn't sure how to define it) made her difficult to get along with, especially considering Naruto's prior attitude with respect to both her and Sasuke. No matter how many times he insisted he wasn't asking the kunoichi out on a date, Sakura refused to go anywhere with him alone.

Naruto wondered if Sakura's answer would change if he ever tried asking her to do something with him while _not_ in front of Sasuke, but as the pink-haired girl never wanted to be caught alone with him, that theory continued to remain untested. In an effort to get her to change the opinion she had of him from the Academy, the blonde had even dropped the '-chan' honorific from her name so it seemed like he was less interested, and his enthusiasm when confronting her (which used to be unnaturally high thanks to his crush on her) had decreased to a point that interacting with her was no different than interacting with anyone else.

It hadn't worked, but Naruto felt better about himself for having gotten over whatever infatuation he had held for his female teammate, regardless.

Perhaps the most exhausting characteristic about Sakura was the fact that she _had_ potential as a kunoichi, but lacked the correct mindset to apply it. She had an amazing brain that was capable of storing unbelievable amounts of knowledge, but her keen intellect was wasted pining after the last Uchiha. If the first day of tree-climbing was any indication, her chakra control was also phenomenal, a trait rare in ninja, let alone ninja her age.

The matter of actually utilizing that potential was the real problem.

But the attitudes of all his teammates – Kakashi included – meant that Naruto's attempted foray into befriending the people he was stuck working with had ultimately been unsuccessful. Looking back, the conclusion had been foregone weeks prior, but in fairness to trying new things, the blonde had given his teammates a plethora of chances to change their minds (and subsequently, his opinions of them). Unfortunately, it seemed as if they were unwilling to do so, leaving Naruto to label them as lost causes in his quest for camaraderie.

On the other hand, his relationship with Ino had slowly but surely improved over time. While the platinum blonde shared several personality traits with Sakura – a short temper and a strange obsession with Sasuke – Ino's lack of association with the Uchiha on a daily basis meant that she was willing to engage in conversation with Naruto without fear of looking bad in front of her crush. It was a quirk that Naruto had no compunctions taking advantage of, as his association with Ino had so far proven to be the closest thing to a real friendship he had.

Ino was…interesting. Her tendency to say the first thing that came to mind, heedless of whether it could be construed as an insult, was an idiosyncrasy that Naruto appreciated. In a weird way, it reminded him of his relationship with Zetsu, who stated his opinion blatantly and without a care for the other person's feelings. Honesty, he had discovered, was a valuable trait in the ninja world, if only because of its rarity.

Her hesitance in accepting him as a friend – dwindling as it was – was also an alluring quality. Naruto had always enjoyed a challenge – getting what he couldn't have, or testing the limits of how far he could push social norms – and swaying Ino's low opinion of him (from the days of the Academy to one where she didn't mind being seen with him in public) had proven to be just that. She had recently decided that it didn't matter if it was known that they hung out on a semi-regular basis, and although she hadn't said so yet, Naruto felt that his fellow blonde was one step away from willingly calling him her friend. That was a milestone that the Jinchūriki wanted to achieve.

His association with Ino had actually had other positive results. For one thing, he had learned a lot more about how she, Shikamaru, and Chōji interacted (which was rather hit and miss, given Ino's bossiness and the two boys' apathy and nonchalance), and his relationship with the two boys had also grown as his visits to Team 10's training grounds had become more frequent. While Asuma wouldn't teach him anything, stating that it wasn't his place to interfere with his colleague's regimen (no matter how much Naruto insisted there _was_ no regimen), the bearded Jōnin also never sent Naruto away. Such treatment gave the blonde the opportunity to study things like the tree-climbing exercise, though without anyone's guiding hand, learning said tricks was slow. Still, he was gradually teaching himself how to reproduce techniques and skills by observation alone, so it was better than nothing. It had even allowed him to finish Kakashi's training ahead of Sasuke, even if not by much.

Actually, it was because he spent much of his free time with Team 10 that he had yet to start focusing on crafting poisons. Well, that _and_ the fact that D-rank missions were hardly of the caliber that required the need for poisons had allowed him to justify (to himself, anyway) putting off creating them. Honestly, the C-rank mission had come as a surprise; he had expected Kakashi to give Team 7 some warning before accepting one.

He supposed it was a good lesson about always being prepared for the unexpected.

Zetsu probably wouldn't approve of the fact that he was spending more time trying to connect with his peers instead of improving his abilities, but then again, the plant-man was so stuck in his ways that anything that opposed them was likely to be looked at as pointless. Fortunately, his status as a Genin offered a valid excuse as to why he had less free time than when he and Zetsu had initially met, and so his sessions with the plant-man had been sparse enough recently that Zetsu's commentary on his actions was kept to a minimum.

Regardless, even with the revelation that he could be friends with Ino, Shikamaru, and Chōji, Naruto wasn't sure he could ever do as Kakashi preached, as the Will of Fire demanded. The members of Team 10 were his comrades, yes, but would he sacrifice his life to save one (or all) of them? He'd certainly protect them if the option was viable, but to lose his own life in the process?

That was…inane.

His worldview was now molded into a strange dichotomy. When it came to Team 7, Naruto knew he could only rely on his own abilities. With Kakashi's indifference, Sasuke's arrogance, and Sakura's incompetence, he had no chance of gaining anything valuable from his association with his teammates; it supported the idea he had picked up from Zetsu, that individualism was the only thing he could believe in. But on the other side was Team 10, a group of peers he had grown to enjoy being around and was even friendly with. He could trust them to some extent, though without working with them, the level he could actually rely on them was questionable.

The answer to the girl's question was 'no', but Naruto wanted to hear what she would say. "Yeah, I do," he finally responded.

His companion nodded. "That's good. When a person has something important to protect…that's when they can truly become strong."

Naruto resisted the urge to snort. He was only becoming stronger because…well, if he was honest with himself, it was because Zetsu had decided to take an interest in him and point out his flawed way of thinking.

_Zetsu…_ His tutor was the only other person of significance within his life, and their relationship was simultaneously simple and complicated. The plant-man saw him as a project, or an experiment…a person he took a chance on to pass down his ideals. If Naruto managed to survive the challenges life threw at him on his own merit, he would essentially prove Zetsu's philosophy correct.

He wasn't sure he wanted to fully analyze the complexities of his and Zetsu's relationship, so he let any remaining thoughts float away, instead choosing to focus on his companion's words. They sounded suspiciously similar to Kakashi's idealism in their support of camaraderie, though with their own twist of supporting strength over friendship. Given that Naruto's experience with protecting something important was nonexistent – and in direct contrast to the things Zetsu had taught – his companion's statement was nothing but empty words.

He lifted his head at the sound of rustling clothes; his female companion was rising to her feet. "I think I've gathered enough herbs," she informed him. "Thank you for your assistance. It was a pleasure meeting you…perhaps we will meet again somewhere."

Naruto nodded once, his blue eyes following her movements as she made her way out of the clearing. "Yeah…you, too."

-l-l-l-

_This isn't gonna end well,_ Naruto thought.

Team 7 had gone to the bridge to offer their full protection to Tazuna after Kakashi had announced himself fully recovered. In a twist of coincidence that was surely a curse, Zabuza and his assistant had arrived to complete their task of assassinating the bridge builder. While the Demon of the Hidden Mist had immediately occupied Kakashi's attention, his assistant Haku had been ordered to take care of the Genin.

Of course, Sasuke had decided to take the lead and attack Haku on his own, once more displaying his arrogance in his abilities. To his credit, the Uchiha had actually managed to hold off Zabuza's assistant for a short while, proving himself marginally faster than the fake hunter-nin and capable of avoiding his attacks.

Up until the point where Haku had created a dome of ice mirrors to trap both the dark-haired boy and the nearby blonde. Then he had melded into the mirrors and started peppering them with senbon.

Naruto made a mental note to get a lot better at throwing senbon; if he could eventually achieve Haku's levels of speed and accuracy, he would become a force to be reckoned with, especially if his weapons were poisoned.

But that would require surviving Haku's attacks. He and Sasuke now stood back to back, watching and waiting for their opponent to make his next move. "Any ideas?" he asked his teammate.

"Try to avoid getting a serious injury," Sasuke said. "His chakra must have a limit, meaning that he can't keep this up forever. He's already starting to slow down, and I can't counterattack and watch over you at the same time."

Naruto grunted in both acknowledgment and annoyance. Sasuke was clearly still underestimating the blonde's skills if he thought that Naruto wasn't aware of that factoid already; kunai were clenched tightly in both of his hands to better block any needles Haku sent their way. There was a _clang_ of metal on metal as he deflected several senbon aimed at his vitals, wincing as he felt others pierce his legs and shoulders. Soon enough, it wouldn't matter that he had avoided being hit in vital spots because he'd be rendered immobile enough to not be able to dodge anything.

The next several moments were devoted to the two Genin deflecting and attempting to dodge Haku's senbon, gathering enough metal needles in their bodies to resemble human pincushions. "You've done well to avoid dying thus far," resounded Haku's voice from everywhere, "but I can no longer afford to waste time." Every image of the ice-user manipulated a single hand through seals at a blazing speed. "_**Hijutsu: Sensatsu Suishō**_."

Naruto felt an impact on his back and went sailing forward as a thousand needles created from moisture in the air cascaded down on his previous position. Rolling clumsily into a crouch, he watched as Sasuke finished leaping away from the impact spot, the Uchiha's eyes a blood-red. The blonde wasn't sure if he was more impressed at having survived the attack or at Sasuke saving his life by kicking him out of harm's way.

Then Sasuke let out a strangled gurgle and fell forward, two senbon protruding through his neck. As his teammate's body collapsed, Naruto could see that Haku was in the mirror behind the Uchiha, his arm extended from having thrown the projectiles. "Your friend managed to save you from a deathblow…it is unfortunate that he was left vulnerable. And now his sacrifice will have been in vain." Haku sped out of the mirror with senbon clenched between his fingers, and Naruto – in a maneuver that would likely prove ineffective – prepared to throw a punch to forestall his imminent death.

Haku stumbled suddenly, and Naruto's fist impacted the boy's porcelain mask with a force borne more from Haku's momentum than his own body. The blonde blinked as the ice mirrors surrounding him melted into water and splashed to the ground, then quickly went to the downed Haku and held a kunai to his throat.

_Well…not sure what happened, but at least I'm alive._

-l-l-l-

Naruto walked into the area he now considered to be Zetsu's forest, grateful to be back in his usual environment alive and whole after the fiasco in the Land of Waves. Though the entire situation had been resolved, the progression of events had been nothing if not hectic.

His suspicions about the woman in the forest had been proven correct when, upon the removal of Haku's mask, the two had proven to be one and the same. While killing his enemy had been the most prudent idea, Haku had taken the situation out of his hands by utilizing the Body Flicker Technique to place himself in the path of Kakashi's Lightning Cutter, saving Zabuza's life.

The boy's death had been immediate, and after an exchange of words between Zabuza and Kakashi, the former's employer had shown up and broken their contract. Such treachery had prompted the Demon of the Hidden Mist to charge into the group of mercenaries his employer had brought along, killing several before taking out the head honcho himself.

Naruto's Shadow Clones had dissuaded the rest of the mercenaries from trying anything else, and Team 7 had remained in the Land of Waves to watch over the completion of the bridge that was supposed to save the country's economy (and to let Sasuke, who hadn't actually died, recuperate before returning to Konoha).

After the incident in the dome of mirrors, Naruto hadn't been sure what to think about his male teammate. Sasuke had performed a selfless act to save him, which, considering the boy's personality, was rather uncharacteristic. Naruto had thought that something might change between them – and thus prove his previous analysis wrong – but once the Uchiha had recovered, their status quo had returned to normal, and the blonde had written off the act as a spur-of-the-moment decision that was unlikely to ever be repeated. In fact, if at all possible, Sasuke's attitude towards him had gotten even worse after it had been revealed that Naruto had been the one to incapacitate Haku; it was almost as if the Uchiha resented him for taking out the enemy when he had been unable to.

"Oh, Naruto-kun! **You're back.** Was your mission successful?"

The blonde looked up to find his tutor gazing at him from the trunk of an oak tree. "Ah, uh, yeah, I guess." He paused before continuing, "Hey, Zetsu, can I ask you something?"

**"Would it stop you if I denied your request?"**

Naruto plowed forward, ignoring the plant-man's snarky attitude. "When I was in the Land of Waves, we ran into a nukenin by the name of Momochi Zabuza. He said that –"

**"'In the world of shinobi, there are only those who use, and those who are used',"** Black Zetsu recited. White Zetsu picked up where his counterpart left off, stating, "He also said that shinobi are simply tools. **Quite a model shinobi."**

"You…how…how did you know that?" Naruto stammered, shocked.

"We were there," White Zetsu offered simply. **"Did you think that we would allow you to voyage outside of the village with only your team for backup?** What would happen if you were attacked by someone beyond your capabilities and killed? **Our investment would be for naught."**

"You…_followed me_ to the Land of Waves?" Naruto had thought that his tutor was relatively indifferent to what happened to him, but with this development, it was entirely possible that he was mistaken. Perhaps Zetsu, in his own detached, independent way, actually cared about his well-being.

That was…unexpected. Everything Zetsu had said pointed to him being completely apathetic to what happened to Naruto. By the plant-man's own logic, it was the blonde's duty to fight his own battles and be dependent on his own abilities, and if he couldn't, he would suffer the consequences. But this new revelation pointed to Zetsu actually displaying some modicum of…concern, maybe?…for his pupil. If Naruto had misjudged Zetsu, someone whom he thought he had figured out, was it possible he had prematurely judged his teammates as well?

Maybe…but then again, did it really matter all that much? He had already made peace with the fact that he and his teammates didn't get along, what did it matter if his opinions were wrong or biased? With the amount of opportunities he'd extended to them to be, at the very least, civil, experience had taught him that he didn't even _want_ to associate with them beyond what he already had to. He would keep his opinion open to any changes he observed on the off-chance his preliminary analysis was incorrect, but otherwise there was no reason to fret over whether he was right or wrong about his teammates' personalities.

Zetsu continued talking. "We wanted to take a vacation, **and where better to go than to assure you weren't misled while away?** The two mercenaries that tried attacking the house you were staying in weren't very tasty, though…maybe next time we should go to the Land of Earth," White Zetsu suggested to his counterpart. "Their people taste much better…**more meat."**

Naruto shuddered a little at that; Zetsu's need to eat people was something that he still had yet to get used to, despite having almost been the plant-man's meal himself. He shook his head to rid himself of the mental image. "So…you were there," the blonde verified.

**"Yes. How else do you think you survived the boy with the **_**Hyōton kekkei genkai**_**?"**

"That was you?"

"Naruto-kun, you need to learn to increase your observational skills." The Jinchūriki opened his mouth to protest, but Black Zetsu cut across him. **"Without any explanation, your opponent tripped before being able to deliver the finishing blow. **Didn't you find that suspicious?"

"Well, yeah," Naruto admitted, "but…" he trailed off as the sight of a vine slithering along the forest floor caught his attention.

**"Nature is unforgiving.** We were watching from the treeline, and when you appeared to be in danger, we interfered. **You need to grow strong enough to defend yourself. **We won't always be around. **Nor do we want to be."**

"That's, well…" Naruto wanted to say 'thank you', but he felt that Zetsu wouldn't care; the plant-man probably already knew he appreciated the help. He shook his head vigorously. "That's all beside the point! I wanted to ask you about what Zabuza said."

**"There is nothing to say.** We agree with Zabuza."

"You do?"

"Of course. **We would not be as we are now if his statement was untrue."**

Naruto fell silent at that. Zetsu had never told him outright about what had happened in his past, and although the blonde had been curious, the urge to pry had been tempered by both Black Zetsu's irritability and respect for his tutor's privacy. From hints Naruto had picked up in conversation, he could determine that whatever had happened to Zetsu in Kusagakure was not something the plant-man had willingly partaken in.

His musing was interrupted by the dual-toned man. **"You claim that your goal is to become Hokage, **right?"

"Uh, well –"

**"As Hokage, the lives of every shinobi and civilian within the village are yours to command. They are your tools, the implements by which your will is carried out. **A chain of command is established by assigning those of lower rank to serve under those above them, from Genin to Chūnin to Jōnin. **The ANBU work directly for the Hokage, carrying out his will no matter what it might be; **in other words, they are also his tools." White Zetsu's yellow eye blinked at him. "Don't you remember what we told you about your _hitae-ate_, Naruto-kun?"

"Yeah, but…I guess I never really thought of what that meant for me." He frowned at the ground, lost in thought. "I don't wanna be someone's tool…so that would mean I'd hafta become Hokage, right?"

"Why did you want to become Hokage originally?"

"Hm? Oh…I wanted people to respect and acknowledge me."

Black Zetsu laughed cruelly. **"What a worthless dream. To become the leader of a village, whether recognized as a Kage or not, you must already possess respect. Either that or power, and often the two go hand-in-hand. With neither in your grasp, your capacity to become Hokage is a fool's errand. **Beyond that," the plant-man's lighter side continued, "the Hokage is not an all-powerful position."

Naruto cocked his head to the side. "Whaddya mean?"

**"Although he reigns over the citizens of the village, the Hokage must still answer to other powers.** The Council, the Clan Heads, his advisors, the Daimyō…the Hokage must please many other parties to remain at the top. **It is a delicate balance that is more trouble than it is worth, and your desire to reach that position is nonsensical. Why would you want to be in charge of the village and its people? Do you care about their lives?"**

That argument sounded familiar, and Naruto realized with a start that it was practically the same thing Zetsu had told him when describing Konoha's belief in the Will of Fire. Remembering the conversion, Naruto arrived at the conclusion that the Hokage had to be the firmest believer of the Will of Fire within the entire village, and he understood with startling clarity that he would never possess the correct state-of-mind to actually take up the mantle.

For one thing, if what Zetsu said was correct, he had no sway within the village, which not only meant that his reason for wanting the position was backwards, but it was also impossible to achieve. To erase the years of prejudice and animosity the villagers held for him – whether due to the Kyūbi or his prankster reputation – would take…more than a few years, he supposed, if he was being optimistic. Konoha was a huge village, and getting everyone to change their opinion of him was an unlikely occurrence; it was likely only working with Ino, Chōji, and Shikamaru because of coincidence (he and Ino sharing an interest in flowers, followed by her longstanding relationship with her teammates and his prior affiliation with them in the Academy) that he would be unable to repeat for the general populace.

Beyond that, experimenting with trying to form bonds with his teammates had taught him that he really didn't believe in the Will of Fire. Naruto didn't have anyone precious enough to want to throw his life away for – nor a reason to, given everyone's treatment of him – and that seemed to be a requirement to become Hokage. He could appreciate the sacrifices the previous Hokages had made so far (the Yondaime, after all, was still a heroic, amazing man), but the blonde wanted to live past the age of 30.

Not that that was a likely scenario with a career as a shinobi, but the likelihood probably increased when you weren't expected to lay down your life for the sake of the village.

His revelation posed a problem, though. If not Hokage, what did he want to become? Strength was certainly a prerequisite of whatever he wanted to do – as 'survive' was a good priority – but to achieve a sufficient level would require years of work. In the meantime, he would be forced to work as a tool of his village, but remaining in that position was not something he wanted. He wanted to become self-sufficient, self-reliant…kind of like Zetsu, just…less creepy. However, if even the Hokage was a tool, what career path would lead him towards his desired lifestyle?

He looked up at his tutor. "Hey, Zetsu, you're a shinobi but not a tool, right? How'd you do that?"

The plant-man's mouth stretched into a slightly maniacal grin. "You leave. **Only by abandoning all which you are familiar with can you achieve such a status.** When you're on your own, the only person you answer to is yourself."

_That…makes sense._ In order to not be treated as a tool, he had to make it so that there was no one else in his life that he had to listen to. But to abandon the Hidden Leaf?

That was a little hard to imagine.

The mission to the Land of Waves had taught him a lot about what being a missing-nin would consist of. Kirigakure apparently had an entire branch of ANBU devoted to hunting down their renegade shinobi; who was to say that Konoha didn't have a similar system? As a Genin, it would be near impossible to escape the Hidden Leaf and hope to avoid any shinobi that were sent to track him down.

But beyond the impracticality of doing that, Naruto wasn't sure he really wanted to leave the Hidden Leaf. Despite the lack of any real comrades (barring Team 10), Konoha was still his home, and he had nowhere else to go if he did abandon it. Then again, he considered, glancing at Zetsu, his tutor had left his home, though probably under extenuating circumstances. The plant-man instead roamed the world without any real aim, simply enjoying the splendor of his surroundings.

Naruto frowned. That lifestyle was contingent upon Zetsu being able to fend for himself, which came back around to being strong enough to do whatever he wanted. The whole ideology was rather cyclic.

Trying to escape the confining role of being a tool was proving to be rather difficult.

Well, it wasn't like he had to make a decision right now. He was sure to be stuck within Konoha for the foreseeable future, so he would focus instead on increasing his abilities and discovering his own niche within the Hidden Leaf's hierarchy, regardless of having to obey orders. That would require intense focus on his shurikenjutsu and physical conditioning to become at least as good as Haku had been; that was a good first plateau to aim for, considering the skills he was hoping to specialize in. If nothing else, the mission to the Land of Waves had taught him that he needed to buckle down and start taking his training seriously.

And he would actually have to start utilizing all the knowledge Zetsu had imparted upon him.

"Zetsu," he began, features settled in a determined expression, "I need a way to carry around different plants and poisons. Any ideas?"

The former Kusa-nin grinned. **"We have just the thing for you, **Naruto-kun."

-l-l-l-

**Author's Note:** Chase-devil and goatweed are different names for St. John's wort. Also, even though Haku is actually a guy, Naruto thinks he's a girl during their original meeting (rightfully so), which is why his gender seems to flip-flop.

About the Wave Arc – I don't like to read complete rewrites of canon, so I don't feel like subjecting you guys to that either. You can imagine that it happened pretty much the same way, but with the changes mentioned and a less impetuous Naruto. I know that this had a lot of exposition, but this is pretty much the point where Naruto's opinions have become settled; next chapter will begin to show the outcome of his new mindset. Anyway, thanks to everyone who reviewed the previous chapter, and let me know what you think of this one!


	5. Promotion & Stagnation

_When testing the limits of your strength, does it matter what your rank is, or is the designation arbitrary?_

-l-l-l-

Naruto sat at his dining table, blue eyes fixed on the saucepan he had placed on the stove. The stovetop was a bit faulty, with the feed flue coming in bursts and intervals – whether because his apartment building was old or because his landlord was biased against him, the blonde didn't know – so boiling water took a little more time than it should have. He was getting used to the wait time, having performed many similar experiments over the past several weeks (not to mention years of making instant ramen), but even so, his patience was not limitless, and so he had intentionally used less water to try to decrease the time it would take to boil.

That, plus less water meant the poison he was brewing would be more concentrated than his previous doses…or so Zetsu said, anyway. Naruto would freely admit that chemical jargon made little sense to him, but he trusted what his tutor told him with regards to this subject. Particularly because Zetsu knew that he wasn't academically-gifted.

The blonde's dining table (and surrounding floor) was laden with scrolls, bowls, towels, weaponry, and plants, among other paraphernalia. Latex gloves littered the wooden surface, and small ceramic orbs with flat bottoms and short necks – capable of sitting in the palm of his hand – were set to one side, most of them with cork stoppers and labels written in inelegant kanji.

Unlike his table, the Jinchūriki's apartment was relatively clean, if a bit ramshackle. The walls were in dire need of a paint job, and several jagged cracks announced the need for spackle in some places. Naruto's furniture – limited to a simple futon, a dresser for clothes, and a two-door storage cabinet – was placed in the corners, allowing him to maximize the middle space of his home. There was a potted plant beside his bed, and another one next to the dining table, which stood by the dresser. His kitchen area – consisting of a refrigerator, stove, and several cabinets for cookware and non-perishables – took up the corner area on the opposite side of the table. All of the appliances were old but functional, and Naruto knew that once he could safely afford it, replacing them (or finding a new place to live) would be his top priority.

Aside from that, his home was bare. Most of the old pictures, posters, and odd notes that had been stuck to the walls during his Academy days (proclaiming hatred for Sasuke, love for Sakura, the latest idea for a prank, etc.) had been torn down and trashed almost immediately after returning from the Land of Waves. Naruto considered it a rebirth of himself, marking the time when he had finally accepted the lesson that Zetsu kept hammering into his head – his life was his own, and other people didn't matter.

That wasn't entirely fair to Team 10, whose members he was on good terms with, but Naruto also didn't feel the need to broadcast his feelings by keeping mementos reminding him of those whose company he enjoyed. Besides, it wasn't like he had visitors to point out how empty and impersonal his apartment was.

His chair scraped against the wooden floor as he pushed away from the table and stood, walking over to the now boiling pot of water. He turned off the heat and reached into the saucepan with a nearby pair of chopsticks. When he withdrew his hand, a small branch with lip-shaped green leaves and small but thin candle-like white flowers was held in the chopsticks' grasp. The plant was thrown away and the chopsticks set back down on the kitchen counter before Naruto grabbed the handle of the saucepan and set it on one of the towels covering the dining table.

Grabbing one of the empty ceramic orbs, he placed it on the table before him before once more gripping the handle of the pot with both hands. Carefully, he tilted the contents of the saucepan into the jar, making sure not to spill a drop. When he was done, he placed the pot in the sink and then returned to the table. Picking up a dozen of the senbon Zetsu had given him, he placed them in the ceramic and then sat back down in his seat.

The brew the blonde had just made was something Zetsu called 'curare'. Apparently it was one of the deadliest poisons that could be created from the flora native to the Land of Fire, killing a person from anywhere between one and twenty-five minutes, depending on the dosage and where it was injected into the body. At this point in his training, Naruto doubted he had the skills to accurately hit someone's veins from afar (as the sooner it entered the bloodstream, the sooner it acted), but with any luck, the onset time would increase with increased injections, meaning he could theoretically overload an opponent with curare-tipped senbon to kill him.

Curare was just one of the many new poisons Naruto had started creating; he had begun utilizing different plants to formulate concoctions for a variety of scenarios. His collection of senbon and kunai was now coated in a small but growing mixture of paralytics, poisons, sleeping agents, and hallucinogens.

Of course, part of the problem in dealing with poisonous weapons was that said weapons had to actually strike the enemy to be effective. Naruto knew that it would still take some time before his capabilities were good enough to consider himself a specialist, but at least he had a start. It had taken a bit of experimentation and a lot of double-checking information with Zetsu to figure out how to do everything, but the blonde felt that he now had some confidence in his poison-crafting skills.

Actually, he owed the plant-man a lot. By some method – and Naruto was honestly unsure if he wanted to know how it had been done – Zetsu had acquired the sealing scrolls, ceramic orbs, gloves, and syringes for him to use in the poison-making process. He assumed his tutor had ransacked the hospital for at least the gloves and syringes (which he was grateful for, as he didn't particularly like to go there), but the procurement of the scrolls and orbs were a mystery.

He would have to remember to ask the plant-man where he had gotten them, as both tools were proving immensely useful. The scrolls contained some sort of seal that labeled whatever contents were inside of them, so that the wielder could summon whatever he wanted with ease simply by applying chakra. Currently, they were mostly empty, but Naruto planned on filling them with the plants he had gathered, extra senbon and kunai he couldn't carry on his person, his poison-making tools, and the ceramic jars; the scrolls would enable him to become a sort of walking apothecary (a profession Zetsu had told him about when discussing the usefulness of medicinal plants).

The jars – a simple mahogany color – were an addition to his future skill set that he hadn't anticipated. They were sturdy enough to prevent leakages of any poisons he decided to store in them, but easily breakable when thrown or dropped. That meant that, in addition to liquid poisons placed on weapons, he could toss out the equivalent of poison bombs that could be inhaled by or splashed on the enemy.

Naruto grabbed a small book placed next to the sealed ceramic jars and set it down before him, opening it up and skimming its contents. As he had started taking Zetsu's lessons seriously, he had come to realize that there was far too much information about the plants he wanted to use – location, description, what parts were useful, among other interesting tidbits – for him to simply remember. So he had decided to invest in a cheap notebook that he could scribble down whatever notes he felt important when Zetsu was lecturing him.

It was also a good way to keep track of what concoctions he had created, how he had done so, and the results of their use. Picking up a pencil, he jotted down a quick note describing the brewing process on the page dedicated to curare, making sure to leave a spot to note its effectiveness at a later date, when he somehow found a way to test his creations.

Flipping through several pages, the blonde stopped at one and then put on a glove to pick up a piece of bark from a small pile laid out before him. "The manchineel tree_,"_ he read from his notes, inspecting the bark, "one of the deadliest trees in the world. Its sap irritates the skin and can cause blistering if you simply stand under the tree while it's raining." He put down the bark and grabbed a slim branch with small, green, apple-looking fruit on it, referencing his notes once more. "The fruit is dangerous if eaten…not that that's likely to happen." Seriously, what was he going to do: walk up to his enemies, hold out his hand, and ask them to please eat this? _No,_ he thought, returning the twig to the table, removing his glove, and eyeing the bark, _what I need to figure out is how to use the bark._

According to what Zetsu had told him, the smoke put off by the tree when burned blinded anyone whose eyes it got into. It was even better than a smoke bomb in the sense that the blindness was permanent and debilitating enough to take advantage of it in the midst of battle.

As potent a weapon as the manchineel tree could be, Naruto couldn't think of a method to burn the bark without blinding himself in the process. Goggles might work – his old pair was still sitting in one of his drawers somewhere, though he had meant to get rid of them – but his skin would also be unprotected. Completely covering himself could stop that, but the blonde still didn't know of a way to capture the gas in one of the ceramic jars after burning the bark.

It was a dilemma that had him stumped and irritated, if only because utilizing the manchineel gas would be an excellent way to stall his opponent, allowing him to hit with his poisoned senbon.

Zetsu might know of a solution, but after everything the plant-man had done for him already, Naruto didn't know if he wanted to ask for more favors. The former Kusa-nin's charity wasn't bound to last long, and while the blonde felt that taking advantage of the small window of opportunity might be a good idea, he also felt that it was a bad one to push his luck. Besides, there probably wasn't anything productive he could accomplish immediately to finalize his preparations for the Chūnin Exams, anyway, which were starting in about an hour.

Naruto wasn't entirely sure how to feel about the Chūnin Exams. On the one hand, it was a new experience that opened up an opportunity to advance his career, but the Jinchūriki knew that he was sorely underprepared for whatever awaited him. Kakashi's training hadn't done anything to improve his skills, and Naruto was sure that (if asked) Zetsu would only give him minimal useful advice and training simply because the plant-man would want him to learn things on his own.

Sighing, he placed a hand upon the scroll the manchineel tree bark was on and applied chakra; in a burst of smoke, it all disappeared, and all that remained was black kanji identifying that plants were sealed within. The rest of the greenery on the table was sealed within the same scroll before it was rolled up and set aside. Naruto did the same with his equipment (pot, gloves, syringes, towels, etc.), senbon and kunai, and ceramics, storing the latter scroll in his kunai pouch with numerous pre-poisoned weapons. The other scrolls were hidden within his topmost dresser drawer, leaving his dining table clean.

He double-checked his supplies and headed towards the door. Opening it, he stepped outside and glanced back at the interior of his home. It was clean and organized despite its slightly battered appearance, a stark contrast to how the blonde had kept it before meeting Zetsu. In a way, it was rather symbolic of how far he'd come in his progression towards being more self-reliant, how far he'd deviated from his old self.

Naruto shut the door behind him and headed towards the Academy. _Well, here goes nothing…_

-l-l-l-

_I hate the Chūnin Exams,_ Naruto thought, scowling down at the paper in front of him. The first test was taking place in one of the largest rooms at the Academy, and was essentially the blonde's worst nightmare – a written exam.

Contrary to popular belief, Naruto wasn't stupid. He was impulsive and not gifted with academic know-how, but when he applied himself – to his pranks, to Zetsu's teachings – he could accomplish great things. His lack of knowledge in subjects such as mathematics and history wasn't a reflection of his intelligence, but a mark of his shaky attention span and disinterest. That said, the difficulty of the questions on the paper in front of him was sure to cause him to fail the test. They looked to be impossible to answer, even if he had paid attention during his days in the Academy.

But worse than that was how the Chūnin Exams had started. Sasuke – for some reason Naruto couldn't fathom – had credited Sakura with discovering the genjutsu warping the second floor of the Academy Building to look like the third one. The dark-haired boy's uncharacteristic generosity had quickly dissipated back into its usual arrogance when a boy clad in green spandex – sporting an awful-looking bowl-cut of shiny black hair – had challenged him to a fight.

It had been rather amusing to watch Sasuke get his ass handed to him by Rock Lee, who was, apparently, a taijutsu specialist, and thus a 'perfect match-up' to negate any advantage Sasuke's Sharingan gave him. Despite Lee's teacher interrupting the fight before it could get out of hand, Naruto had held out hope that his teammate's attitude would be easier to deal with after the proof that he wasn't the most powerful Genin in the Hidden Leaf. Instead, his loss had seemed to galvanize the Uchiha into challenging those peers he considered to be equal or above him in strength as a way to prove his superiority, notably Rock Lee and Hyūga Neji.

Sasuke's usual attitude was only one cause of his irritation, though; his mere presence was the other, as simply seeing the Uchiha had acted as some sort of trigger on Ino when Teams 7 and 10 had come together in the testing room.

_Team 7 walked into room 301 and looked around, taking note of all the faces that glared in their direction as they entered. Almost immediately, Ino appeared from seemingly nowhere and jumped on Sasuke's back, squealing excitedly in his ear. This action prompted the beginnings of an argument between Ino and Sakura, while Naruto stood to the side, eyes fixed on his fellow blonde, waiting for her to greet him._

"_Not gonna happen," grunted a voice behind him. Naruto turned to the left to find Shikamaru and Chōji approaching him, the former with his hands in his pockets, the latter munching from a bag of chips. The blonde's confusion must have shown on his face, for Shikamaru sighed and stated, "Ino's not gonna pay you any attention with the Uchiha around."_

_Naruto blinked. "But we're friends."_

_Shikamaru shrugged. "It's nothing personal, it's just how she is. All we've heard for the past week is how she can't wait to see him. It's annoying that all of our teachers nominated us for the exams," he grumbled._

_The blonde tossed a glance over his shoulder to spy Ino and Sakura engaged in a furious exchange of words, Sasuke doing his best to avoid his two fangirls. "…I'm a little surprised you showed up," he said, returning his attention to the two boys, trying to disregard the betrayal he felt at being ignored._

"_It would've been too troublesome to argue with Ino."_

At that point, Team 8 had shown up, and Inuzuka Kiba had greeted the assembled Genin with his usual boisterousness. He had been followed by a silver-haired Konoha-nin who had introduced himself as Kabuto; after a brief look at several of Kabuto's ninja info cards, a trio from the Hidden Sound had attacked, only to be interrupted by the arrival of the first exam's proctor, which had prompted the beginning of the written exam.

Naruto tapped his pencil against the wooden desk in frustration. All of his hard work befriending Ino, only for her to turn a blind eye to him in the face of her crush. Was that what it would always be like to have Sasuke on a team? That no matter how much he changed, all the strides he had made and would continue to make towards maturity, he would always be ignored in favor of his dark-haired teammate?

That was…galling. And moderately depressing.

All the effort he had put into getting along with Ino now seemed to be a waste of time, and he wondered if it was worth pursuing their friendship in lieu of this development.

Because, in the end, did it really matter?

He had already given up on making friends with his teammates. Even though he considered the members of Team 10 his friends, the bonds he had formed with them were tentative. His determination to become more self-reliant supported a lifestyle that meant he could (probably) live without friends, as he had done for his entire life. They weren't a necessity; they were a perk, and one that he could do without if they were going to ignore his existence simply because someone more interesting showed up.

Honestly, he had thought Ino was above the level that Sakura was, but apparently he had been mistaken. If she wanted to play the 'pretend you're not there' game, he could, too.

It was petty, but his growth in maturity had its limits. Revenge – either in the form of pranks or giving someone a taste of their own medicine – was not above him.

"Naruto-kun…" whispered the voice of the person next to him, drawing him from his thoughts. He tilted his head slightly to see the speaker, finding it to be Team 8's Hyūga Hinata. For a moment, the blonde couldn't believe that he hadn't even seen who he'd been seated beside, but then he realized that the combination of his anger at Ino's treatment of him and the testing environment had caused him to lose track of his surroundings.

The fact that such a lack of awareness was the equivalent of a death sentence in the field was not lost on him, and his blue eyes acquired focus on what was happening around him. There was a light flush of color in Hinata's cheeks, and she was pressing the tips of her pointer fingers together nervously. "If you'd like…" she continued in the same, soft voice, "you can look at my answers…Naruto-kun." She positioned her paper so that most of her body was hiding it from the rest of the room, and only he could clearly see the answers peeking out from underneath the shadow of her arm.

He stopped tapping his pencil against the desk and considered the proposition. The rules of the exam stated that participants started with 10 points, which were gradually lost depending on different factors. Each incorrect answer was a negative point against his score, and every cheating infraction was worth double that; if an individual's score hit zero, the entire team failed. Not answering any questions also caused the team to fail, which was problematic, as Naruto had no way of actually answering any of the questions.

The cheating rule was a bit suspicious…Naruto had never heard of an exam that started with the maximum amount of points and then only penalized someone for cheating. After a period of thought, he realized the implications of the rule – they were _supposed_ to cheat. Every incidence of doing so and getting caught was a penalty for not being sneaky enough, not for the cheating infraction itself.

That still posed a problem, however, as Naruto _had_ no method to cheat with. Not only that, but he had no target to cheat off of. Sasuke was resourceful enough to figure out a way to cheat (if he hadn't already), and Sakura was probably smart enough to answer at least a couple of the questions, meaning that he was the only one who couldn't contribute to the team.

Unless he took Hinata up on her offer.

The Jinchūriki's paranoia immediately surfaced. Why was Hinata offering him the answers, anyway? Did she benefit in some way from doing so? Back in the Academy, the Hyūga had been a reserved, shy individual, but she had also been one of the few people who hadn't (outwardly) considered him a nuisance. Her motive was unknown, but given what little he knew of her, it was probably harmless.

His eyebrows furrowed together. Assuming Hinata's intention was good, and assuming he copied down the answers from her paper, how many answers should he copy? The proctor hadn't told them how many teams would pass – he seemed to be specifically keeping that number in the dark – so it was hard to say what the cutoff for points was to make it to the next round. There were essentially two options he could choose. The first was to copy down all the answers to retain the most amount of points possible, but that option opened him up more opportunities to get caught and penalized for cheating. The second was to take down only one answer to minimize the cheating penalty, _hope_ that it was right so that he didn't fail the test on the 'no correct answers' premise, and then trust that Sasuke and Sakura could amass enough points between them to make up his difference.

Relying on Sakura and Sasuke to pull through with all the answers seemed foolish and counterintuitive to everything he'd observed and been taught. He could already hear Zetsu's voice in the back of his head telling him that putting his faith in his teammates would end poorly; prior experience had taught him that. Self-interest was a strong motivator, but even if their tests were completely correct, his one answer (assuming it was right, and that could be a dangerous gamble) would leave them with 21 points…and that was assuming that none of them had been caught cheating.

Hinata was still looking at him with a tinge of color in her cheeks, awaiting his answer as he waffled back and forth on what to do, when a new thought struck.

_Does the test even matter?_

He had already decided that his previous goal of being Hokage was no longer a worthy one to strive for, and that his real agenda should focus on finding some way to not be used by people. That, as Zetsu had pointed out, was a near impossibility while within a ninja village, although it seemed to lessen as a shinobi rose through the ranks and had less people to report to. Still, regardless of whatever title he held, he would still be used by someone, so advancing to Chūnin didn't really progress him towards his ultimate endgame – becoming strong enough to rely on only himself.

Rank was merely a global recognition of how strong a person was, but that wasn't necessarily an accurate gauge of power levels. A Chūnin could beat a Jōnin under the right circumstances, despite the latter being theoretically stronger. After all, hadn't he, a Genin, 'beaten' Haku, who could be considered at least a Chūnin (albeit with Zetsu's assistance)? Being promoted simply symbolized that a shinobi's strength was finally being given credit, not that said shinobi hadn't already reached or surpassed the required level. In that sense, partaking in the Chūnin Exams made no difference to him, as he didn't really care what others thought of him.

The premise of the exams was weird, too. With several different villages sending participants to Konoha – whether allied together or not – the potential for the Hidden Leaf to influence who got promoted from other villages was rather high. It seemed strange that the Villages Hidden in Sand, Grass, Waterfall, Rain, and Sound would allow another village – or all the other villages – to assist in choosing who advanced to the next rank. That decision should be left to each village individually, not to a group of them.

But…it might still be useful to gain his village's recognition of his strength. Even if he did become a Genin with Chūnin-level skills, having the Hokage officially promote him would be an indicator that he could actually stand up against other Chūnin in the village. That would be a good measuring stick of how far he'd come since meeting Zetsu.

Beside that, Chūnin were apparently held to higher standards than Genin, as they could be assigned to become captains of their own squads; that made them responsible for the lives of their teammates and the failure or success of a mission. While he didn't particularly care about the majority of the people within Konoha, being assigned to a position where he would essentially have to balance all the issues he'd spoken with Zetsu about would be an interesting test of his resolve…not to mention his ability to hide his true thoughts from the higher-ups of the Hidden Leaf.

Naruto rested his head in his hands and massaged his forehead with the heels of his palms. The entire thought process was rather cyclic and contradictory and – as he had discovered with Zetsu's tutored way of thinking of things from different angles – migraine-inducing. There was never a right answer, just a solution that best fit the problem given a person's outlook on life.

The blonde reviewed everything he had just considered to try and reach a conclusion. Rank wasn't the greatest indicator of strength; it only signified how strong others considered you. It was a measure of where you stood in the world, how you stacked up against others…when you were considered strong enough to fend for yourself in the eyes of those above you…

_Oh…oh!_

That was it, the solution to his problem of how – and better yet, _when_ – to become fully self-reliant. He ran through the epiphany in his head, double-checking it for loopholes or errors, solidifying his new goal in his mind. To achieve it, however, he would need to pass the Chūnin Exams, but he wasn't so arrogant as to believe himself strong enough to get by on the first try. He had no skills in genjutsu and ninjutsu (barring the Shadow Clone Technique), his taijutsu wasn't anything to brag about, and he was still a novice in creating poisons and using them effectively, which he figured would become his bread-and-butter specialty. It would take time before he could achieve a level of proficiency equivalent to that of a Chūnin, so it didn't really matter if he passed now or not –

_It doesn't matter if I pass or not,_ he realized. If he did…well, then the potential for promotion was that much closer; if not, then he could shrug it off, train, and take the next exam that rolled around. _Well,_ he thought, stealing a glance at Hinata's sheet of paper, _if the end result doesn't matter, then I might as well go all the way…no reason not to. Besides,_ tickled a voice in the back of his mind, tinted with petty vindication, _if I fail, then so do Sasuke and Sakura. It would serve them right for how they've treated me._

Naruto started scribbling down the answers from Hinata's sheet of paper, trying to keep his head movement to a minimum. If nothing else, the exercise was a good test of how sneaky he could be while a group of superiors were keeping an eye on him. He was just looking over to copy down the eighth question when a voice called out, "Numbers 53 and 54, you both fail. Take your teammates and leave."

_Apparently I need to be sneakier,_ he thought, pushing back his chair and standing up. Hinata, her limbs shaking slightly, did the same, and around the room, their teammates followed their lead, all with varying expressions. "S-sorry, Naruto-kun," she murmured as they walked towards the door. "I d-didn't think –"

"Nah, it's okay," he assured her. "Probably my fault anyway, not bein' sneaky enough. Besides, there's always next time!"

"R-right," she stammered, cheeks still flushed. The blonde wondered if she was just warm underneath her coat; the tinge of pink hadn't left her face since she'd first spoken to him. Her lavender eyes focused on something behind him, and Naruto turned around to find her two teammates exiting room 301 and coming into the hallway. "Kiba-kun…Shino-kun…I'm s-sorry."

Kiba shot an irritated look at Naruto and shouldered past him; Naruto's blue eyes tracked him as he stalked away. "It was probably this loser's fault," he grunted. "C'mon, we'll just hafta train twice as hard now, right Akamaru?"

The small white dog atop Kiba's head yipped in response. Hinata waved a hesitant goodbye to Naruto before following her teammate. Aburame Shino was only a step behind, ignoring the blonde as he moved along the corridor; Naruto thought he might be annoyed, but it was hard to tell with the sunglasses and concealing jacket he wore. "Well, that probably coulda gone worse." He turned back around to find the two other members of Team 7 standing before him. Sakura wore a look somewhere between disappointed and scared, and Sasuke…

Sasuke was _seething._ It was strange to see so much emotion on the normally unflappable boy's face. The Uchiha stepped forward and grabbed Naruto's collar. "Naruto," he growled, "do you know what you just did? You cost me the opportunity to become a Chūnin, to test my strength against some of the strongest Genin around."

Naruto blinked. "So?"

"So? _So?_ This was my chance to close the gap between me and _him_, and you just ruined it," Sasuke hissed. "All we needed was for you to get _one question_ right by cheating, but you couldn't even do that!"

"What do you want from me, Sasuke?" he asked, more curious than apologetic.

"I want you to be useful, so that I don't get dragged down by your mistakes. Once a dobe, always a dobe…I don't even know how you managed to defeat Haku when I couldn't do it… What's so funny?" he demanded as Naruto started laughing.

"You don't get it," the blonde said.

"Then explain it to me, dobe," Sasuke hissed.

"Sasuke-kun…Naruto…" Sakura interposed, "maybe we shouldn't –"

"Quiet, Sakura," the Uchiha snapped. "Start talking, Naruto."

The blonde sobered instantly. "Fine. You had all these opportunities to meet all these strong people within the village, but you're so damn antisocial and arrogant that you think everyone is either unworthy of your attention or beneath you. You thought that you could take on Lee when he challenged you, that your special eyes gave you some sort of advantage, but even when you're proven wrong, you still think you can take on all these people that are clearly stronger than you. But you can't, because you haven't done anything but rely on the abilities you already have, and where has that gotten you?"

"Naruto, that's not fair," Sakura stated, her temper rising. "Sasuke-kun is –"

"You shut up," barked the blonde, and the pink-haired girl's mouth snapped close in shock. Naruto's blue eyes were steely. "You're next. You know, Sasuke," he continued, returning his attention to the dark-haired boy, "for _weeks_ I've tried to be nice to you, asking if you wanted to train after our missions, but all you've done is tell me how inferior I am to you.

"But what the hell do you know? Kakashi hasn't taught us anything, and while you've been busy bein' by yourself, I've been training. You don't know how strong I've gotton since we became Team 7…maybe I'm strong enough to beat you now."

Sasuke scoffed. "Unlikely."

"You don't know that," retorted the blonde. Then, just to rub it in, he added, "I beat Haku, didn't I?"

"Fine," Sasuke stated, releasing his teammate. "Then fight me…right here, right now."

Naruto resisted the urge to dig into his kunai pouch, pull out a poisoned senbon, and jam it into Sasuke's neck. "No. I'm done with you. You rejected all my offers, so now I'm returning the favor. And you," he continued, focusing on his female teammate, "where do I even start? You're so blinded by your so-called love for Sasuke that you don't see how useless you are. Have you even trained at all? Do you know how rare your chakra control is, or how good a kunoichi you could be if you actually focused on your strengths? And instead, you waste your life following this guy around, when he won't even give you the time of day."

"You were the same way," Sakura said, finding her voice again, though it sounded rather feeble.

"I changed, something which you would've noticed if you could focus on anyone or anything besides Sasuke." The blonde shook his head sadly. "You know what? I thought that I could turn you guys into my comrades, because Kakashi said that that was important, but after weeks of being treated like crap by you guys, I wouldn't wanna be your friends even if you asked.

"Actually, I'm kinda glad that we failed the Chūnin Exams. You guys haven't shown that you care about me, so why should I care that you're mad at me for ruining your opportunity to become Chūnin? Maybe if you were willing to work with me as a team, we wouldn't have failed the test. Blame me for this if you want, but the way we are, we only would've passed the exams outta sheer luck."

There was silence in the hallway as Naruto and Sasuke stared at each other, Sakura eyeing them both frantically. Finally, the Uchiha grunted and turned away, walking towards the exit. Sakura's gaze swiveled between her two teammates several times before she followed Sasuke out.

Naruto snorted. "Some things never change." He looked down at his outfit, rubbing the white collar that Sasuke had gathered in his fist. His entire ensemble was loud and obvious, a cry for attention from a boy who desperately wanted it – needed it – from others.

He wasn't that boy anymore. _I think it's time for a change._

-l-l-l-

"It seems your students weren't as well-prepared for the Chūnin Exams as you thought," Sarutobi Hiruzen, Sandaime Hokage of Konohagakure, observed, puffing on his pipe.

Hatake Kakashi inclined his head in slight shame. "I didn't foresee them failing the first exam, Hokage-sama. I had hoped their showing would've been more impressive in the later stages."

"Hm…yes, well, it seems like that opportunity won't come to pass. It appears as if Team 7 could use some more training, to better prepare for the next set of Chūnin Exams in six months." He looked up at his subordinate, and even through the mask, it was apparent that the Jōnin was frowning. "You disagree?"

"Not at all. In fact, Sasuke has already demanded that I begin to train him even harder. I'm simply concerned about how their failure here will affect their teamwork, especially if Naruto and Sakura view this focus as perceived favoritism. Despite my attempts, their teamwork has always been a rather tentative thing, and with this development…well…"

"Ah, yes, I see." The Hokage hummed thoughtfully before picking up a blank piece of paper and beginning to write on it.

Kakashi peered at the message, though it was written in a code he was unfamiliar with. "If I may ask, Hokage-sama…what are you writing?"

"A summons for my student," Sarutobi answered. "I have tried to contact him several times already, but he has been unresponsive thus far. Given this new development, I think it prudent to express an urgency that he return sooner rather than later. As you are the only shinobi in Konoha with a Sharingan, you are the only one capable of teaching young Sasuke about his _kekkei genkai_ properly. In order to allow you to focus on him, I will have Jiraiya oversee Naruto and Sakura's training."

The silver-haired man bowed. "As you wish, Hokage-sama."

-l-l-l-

Naruto walked into the forest where Zetsu lived, a determined expression on his face. He was changing things – his relationships with his peers, his goals, his clothes – and there was only one more extension of his life that needed altering.

Zetsu melded out of a nearby tree, his normal eye blinking in mixed curiosity and confusion. "Naruto-kun…what a surprise. We had expected you to be taking the Chūnin Ex—"

"Train me," Naruto demanded. "I want to know everything you can teach me."

-l-l-l-

**Author's Note:** As it's been brought up several times, I just want to let you guys know that this story will be written (mostly) from Naruto's perspective. This is to show exactly how skewed his opinions are becoming; for instance, his reaction to Ino ignoring him is a little extreme, but in his mind (and given his new way of thinking), it's completely justified. Naruto's paranoid and sees agendas where agendas don't necessarily exist. Also, Team 8 failed because the mark of a good Chūnin is NOT giving away answers.

Next chapter will pick up exactly where this one left off with a look at the new Naruto, and will include resolving things with Ino. Thanks to everyone who reviewed, and let me know what you think of this chapter!


	6. Demands & Grants

_When someone asks something of you, do you acquiesce willingly, or do you request something in return?_

-l-l-l-

Naruto stared into Zetsu's normal eye, retaining his determined expression to the best of his ability. His desire for actual training from his strange tutor was both honest and dire, but expressing it in words wasn't always the best form of communication. Action – showing Zetsu his resolve in addition to telling him – would better sell his case.

**"Foolish child, do you not remember what we told you when we agreed to teach you?"**

"Yeah, I do…but I think you lied."

White Zetsu's yellow eye widened in such a way that Naruto wondered if the plant-man was offended. "Why would we do that, Naruto-kun?"

The blonde shrugged. "Dunno. Maybe to teach me a lesson, maybe because you wanted to…I figured you could tell me _after_ I got you to agree to train me."

**"You still think that we are going to agree to train you?** He doesn't listen very well," White Zetsu informed his counterpart. **"You were much the same way. **Yes, but I was enjoying my freedom! He is still enslaved by Konoha."

"Zetsu," Naruto interjected loudly; there was no telling how long his tutor's argument could or would go on for if uninterrupted. The plant-man returned his attention to his pupil. "If you had no intention of training me, why did you save my life back in the Land of Waves?"

There was silence for several seconds before the dark, throaty chuckling of Black Zetsu bubbled out of the former Kusa-nin's throat. **"Clever child…you've changed." **Naruto allowed the barest of grins to grace his lips at that; he certainly _hoped_ he had changed. His new mindset and outfit surely reinforced that idea.

Gone was the eye-catching, garish orange jumpsuit with the white collar and blue shoulder panels. Now the blonde wore black pants that ended just above his black shinobi sandals, the little of his shins that was uncovered being wrapped in bandages. On top, he was clothed in a long-sleeved, olive-colored shirt that was loose on his frame, falling just past his waist and both wrists, enough to conceal any hand signs he wove from the enemy's sight. It also provided the added benefit of allowing him to stow extra senbon in the cuffs' fabric, so that he could easily reach in with the opposite hand and grab a needle if the situation called for it. Hidden underneath was a short-sleeved, ash grey shirt with fishnet for sleeves, several pouches hanging from the hem and connected to the waistband of his pants by clasps to prevent unnecessary movement (hidden from view by the outer shirt). The pouches held several of the ceramic jars Zetsu had gotten for him, as well as the summoning scrolls containing his extra weaponry, poisons, and plants.

Everything was meant to be easily accessible to promote surprise attacks. Eventually, Naruto wanted to sew pockets into the interior of his long-sleeved shirt to provide more room for his poisoned weaponry, in addition to the senbon stuck in his cuffs. While it might take time to build the ability of plucking needles from his clothing at a speed fast enough to actually matter, the Jinchūriki thought it would be a good skill to learn. To defend himself from his own poison-coated weapons, fingerless, black gloves adorned his hands.

The biggest change of all was the fact that his _hitae-ate_ – the _hitae-ate_ that he had gotten from Iruka on the night he had learned a valuable lesson – was no longer wrapped around his forehead. Instead, it hung loosely around his neck, a knot tied at the base of his neck keeping it in place. It was, he thought, rather symbolic of his new attitude to not become a tool. He would support Konoha when it benefited him, but his primary allegiance would be to himself; he wouldn't sacrifice himself for the sake of others, as the Will of Fire seemed to demand.

"Yeah," he responded, "I have. Now, are you gonna train me?"

Instead of replying, Zetsu turned his head so he was facing the largest open space in the immediate vicinity. Naruto caught a luminescent glow come from, of all things, Black Zetsu's abnormal yellow eye, right before an image appeared in the open space. Startled, the blonde jumped backwards, nearly tripping over a large root in the process. **"Tell us what is wrong with this picture."**

"What's –?" He cut himself off and focused intently on the image before him. It appeared to be some sort of projection depicting a dome of icy mirrors, but the vantage point was from far away. Through the gap between individual mirrors, Naruto caught glimpses of a fast-moving person – Haku – zipping amongst the icy constructs, peppering his orange-clad self and Sasuke with senbon. _This is…my mission in the Land of Waves,_ he realized. _From…Zetsu's perspective?_ "How did you get this?" He stepped forward and waved his hand through the projection. "Is this some sort of genjutsu?"

**"That is insignificant. **We recorded the battle for future reference. **Now answer the question."**

Naruto watched the battle between Haku and himself and Sasuke, trying to see what Zetsu wanted him to. It was…surreal, he supposed, to watch an outsider's point of view of a fight that would've taken his life if it weren't for the interference of said outsider. As he watched Haku's senbon pierce his body, Naruto could imagine that he was once again a human pincushion. The memory was hard to forget.

That was all irrelevant, though. Zetsu was clearly trying to prove a point about _something_, and only by observing the fight from a non-combatant's perspective could he figure out what that was. Pushing aside any residual feelings about the fight, the blonde tried to focus on whatever it was his tutor was trying to show him.

The fight was remarkably one-sided, he thought, observing glimpses of him and Sasuke dodging around through the slit Zetsu had watched from. It was obvious that he needed more speed, more situational awareness…increased weapons proficiency wouldn't do much, as he was already batting away as many of Haku's senbon as he could, though it would help his chosen profession. Taijutsu wouldn't do much against an opponent who could literally vanish inside unbreakable mirror-like constructs. Ninjutsu could be useful, though as the projection restarted and Sasuke tried to melt the ice with a Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique (to no effect), he realized that perhaps that wasn't what he was supposed to be looking for either.

Blue eyes narrowed as the images of himself and Sasuke positioned themselves back to back. Looking for deficiencies in his shinobi skills was rather pointless since he _had_ no skills going up against Haku. In addition, Zetsu was the type of shinobi who didn't focus on the traditional ninja arts, such as ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu. The plant-man was sneaky and underhanded, relying on his surroundings to meld into and creating duplicates to transform into others, as he had done with Naruto to alleviate Konoha's suspicions regarding the blonde's whereabouts. Zetsu's machinations were subtle, and as such, whatever error he wanted Naruto to find was most likely some small detail that was abstract in nature.

Naruto could see a vine creeping its way over to the dome of ice mirrors as the images of him and Sasuke continued to deflect senbon. Thousands of needles formed from moisture in the air, and Sasuke kicked him away and then dove to the side as they converged on the boys' previous location.

His eyes went wide with understanding as Sasuke fell forward, two senbon through his neck. The answer was so obvious he was amazed he hadn't predicted its outcome from the get-go. Zetsu was nothing if not predictable when it came to his favorite slogan. "Sasuke and I worked together."

"Oh, he got that much sooner than you expected. **Yes, it seems I underestimated his abilities."**

The blonde ignored the slight at his intelligence; if he wanted to get proper training from Zetsu, he was better off letting the former Kusa-nin say whatever he wanted. "Okay, I get that this is more of your usual stuff, but it's not like we had much of a choice. We needed to work together in order to cover the other's back so we wouldn't die."

**"Those are merely excuses. If you were truly devoted to relying on your own abilities, you wouldn't have needed to work with your teammate to survive."**

Naruto ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. "If someone would teach me something, maybe I wouldn't hafta work with other people!" He closed his eyes and sighed before reopening them and fixing Zetsu with a calm stare. "I get what you've been teaching me all this time. But even if I rely on only myself, sometimes I'll be forced to work with other people…unless you teach me enough so I don't hafta." His face settled into a determined expression. "Assassins work by themselves most of the time, so…will you help me?"

Zetsu was silent for a long time. Naruto watched the white side's yellow eye trace over his form, settling on the _hitae-ate_ tied around his neck instead of his forehead. For a moment, the blonde wondered if Black Zetsu saw out of his own unnatural eye or if he shared with White Zetsu, as the scrutiny seemed more characteristic of the man's darker side. Finally, Black Zetsu stated, **"You have made a sound argument.** And your chosen profession is apt," White Zetsu added. **"You have passed our test,** **and so we will impart upon you the knowledge you seek."**

Naruto brightened at that announcement. "Really?" He hadn't thought convincing Zetsu would be nearly that easy, even accepting that his assumption about the plant-man meaning to train him all along was accurate.

"Would we lie to you, Naruto-kun?"

Naruto decided that that was a trick question, and wisely chose not to answer it. "So, what're we starting with?"

Black Zetsu's yellow eye adopted a luminescent glow once again. This time, the projection that appeared depicted a large, beady-eyed male wearing simple clothes of neutral colors. Instead of being from afar, the perspective was focused directly on the man, and Naruto concluded that Zetsu's viewpoint was as a combatant instead of an observer. "What's this?" he asked, curious.

"Watch," chorused Zetsu's two halves.

Naruto did as he was told, watching the memory with a careful eye. The other man was talking with a cocky smirk decorating his features, but as the projection lacked sound, the blonde had no way of knowing what he was saying. He finished speaking, and then, in a move that surprised Naruto, melded into the dirt. "Hey, that's your –"

**"Quiet."**

The Jinchūriki fell silent, observing as a wave of dirt rose up and tried to engulf Zetsu. In an instant, all was black, and Naruto surmised that his tutor had gone underground; in another moment, Naruto was greeted with the sight of light once more. The other man rose out of the dirt, his body appearing to be composed entirely of the same material. He said something and started to sink into the ground, but roots rose up and bound his form.

Or tried to, anyway. The man's dirt form broke apart and reassembled outside of the roots' grasp. At that point, the projection fizzled out. Naruto turned to his tutor. "I thought you said only you could do the…" he held out one hand palm-down and slowly dropped the other one behind it to mime disappearing into a surface, whistling lowly as he did so.

"It's called the '_**Kagerō**_', Naruto-kun," White Zetsu offered after an amused titter, **"and we **_**are**_** the only ones who can use it."**

Naruto pointed at the space Zetsu had just been projecting in. "So what was that?"

**"You tell us."**

The blonde huffed and crossed his arms before realizing Zetsu was probably trying to, once again, prove a point. "Play it again," he requested. Without a word, the projection fizzled back into existence, and Naruto watched it play out with a more careful eye. The entire memory replayed three times before Naruto told Zetsu he could stop. "How does your…_**Kagerō –**_" the word's unfamiliarity caused him to stumble over it, "— work?"

**"Utilizing chakra, we merge with any nearby flora and travel through it. Nature allows us to conceal our presence and use her bounty for our whims, manipulating all sorts of vegetation and its interconnectedness for ourselves."**

"So…" Naruto pondered, his brow scrunching in thought, "the difference is that…you can use plants to do whatever you want…while he –" he flapped his hand vaguely in the direction the projection had played in, "— could use chakra to…transform his body into whatever he was touching?"

There was a moment of silence, and then White Zetsu commented, "That was impressive, Naruto-kun, **though not entirely accurate." **The blonde scowled slightly, annoyed that Black Zetsu always had to burst his bubble. **"What that fool was using was actually two jutsu in one; you will focus on learning the first one.** It took _so long_ to kill him," White Zetsu whined, "and he tasted so icky, too."

Naruto stared at his tutor blankly, and the ensuing silence made him believe that even Black Zetsu wasn't entirely how to respond to his more immature half. He coughed to break the spell. "Er…you were saying something about two jutsu, me learning one…?"

Black Zetsu seemed to shake himself from his stupor. **"Yes. It's **known as _**Shinra Banshō no Jutsu**_," interjected White Zetsu excitedly. **"Shut up!"** snapped the darker half. White Zetsu's expression crumpled into something resembling an extraordinarily creepy pout, though he remained silent in the wake of Black Zetsu's ire. **"Its effects somewhat mimic those of the **_**Kagerō**_**, but to a lesser extent. There are several other jutsu that have similar results, though the majority of them require a **_**Doton**_** affinity to use in conjunction with the ground. The **_**Shinra Banshō **_**isn't susceptible to such a restriction."**

Naruto rubbed his hands together, eager to learn. "Awesome! So how does it work?"

**"That's for you to find out."**

"But…but you said you'd train me!"

**"We did not say that.** Uh-uh," tutted White Zetsu, "did you forget our most important lesson? **We will impart upon you the knowledge needed to improve yourself, **but it's up to you to figure out how to use what we teach. **Rely only on yourself, **remember?"

_Of course…_ There was a catch…with Zetsu, there was _always_ a catch. Well, he supposed he couldn't complain too much; the plant-man was, after all, teaching him something substantial, and the _**Shinra Banshō **_looked like it would be amazingly useful, especially for a ninja planning to specialize in assassination. "If you say so, Zetsu," he responded, manipulating chakra for his first attempt at the technique.

-l-l-l-

Why he chose _their_ field to practice in, Naruto couldn't explain. As there was nothing and no one around, it was an optimal location to practice kata and exercises in peace to improve his physical conditioning. The few trees in the area had targets scratched into their trunks and were littered with senbon and kunai; one day, he would get some sort of human dummy to better simulate hitting vital points.

The only problem was that, despite the lack of any intrusion by others, the field was still his and Ino's – the place they went to talk about flowers, or teammates, or whatever – and his fellow blonde was completely entitled to show up whenever she wanted.

"Hey, Naruto!"

He grimaced slightly before turning around to find the platinum blonde jogging towards him. It had been almost a week since he had failed the first stage of the Chūnin Exams; he should've known that Ino wouldn't be kept busy for too long. "Ino," he returned, keeping his tone neutral. "I'll be leaving now."

"Oh, but…I came here to see how you're doing, after, you know…failing out of the exam."

A surge of anger shot through Naruto at that. He had thought that he didn't care about Ino after the incident in room 301, that he could just write off the friendship that he had spent time forging with her to focus on himself, but apparently it wasn't that easy. "So now you care?" he whispered. Whirling around, he found Ino standing a mere foot away; he glared at her, and she took a step back at the intensity in his blue eyes. "You didn't seem to care enough to say 'hi' to me back before the test started."

"Well, I…I was greeting Sasuke-kun…"

"I know, I saw. I was _there_." Somehow, the fact that Naruto wasn't yelling made the conversation much scarier. "You know, I don't get what this obsession with Sasuke is. You, Sakura…what do you even see in him?"

"He's cool! And he has such a tragic past –"

"A tragic past? You mean like growing up without a family, completely alone…skipping meals because you can't pay for them or because the landlord turns off your gas? Having no friends and doing anything to try to get someone to pay attention to you…_that_ kind of tragic past?

"And what exactly defines being 'cool'? He doesn't care about other people, he's arrogant, he can't work with others…as someone who _has_ to work with her teammates, I'd think you would appreciate the value of teamwork." Caught up in his frustrated rant, he missed the hypocrisy of him adopting the mindset of relying only on his own abilities (and thus being similar to Sasuke). "I thought we were friends, Ino, but…" he shook his head, "if you're just gonna forget that I exist because that bastard happens to be around…maybe it's just not worth it."

"Naruto…we _are _friends –"

_Hollow victory,_ he thought.

"— and I didn't mean to ignore you. I'm sorry…"

Naruto waved her words away. "I don't wanna hear you apologize. I just…I'll see you around. Maybe." And with that, he vanished into the ground.

The _**Shinra Banshō**_, he decided, was an _awesome_ technique. It allowed the user to meld seamlessly into any object – organic or inorganic, it made no difference – and just disappear from sight. If Ino's calls from above him were any indication, it also made him incapable of being discovered by sensor-type shinobi – specialist ninja that Zetsu had recently informed him of, capable of detecting others by chakra – although, he supposed, it was also possible Ino just wasn't adept at searching for chakra signatures. Experiments would be required to test the intricacies of the technique, though that would require a second person.

Maybe Zetsu would be willing to help?

Well, probably not, but it was worth a shot.

He waited five minutes after he could no longer hear Ino before slowly releasing his hold on the Attack Prevention Technique and rising out of the ground. It was surprisingly easy to activate the _**Shinra Banshō**_, merely requiring an even coating of chakra around whatever was supposed to match the material being melded into; by doing so, the user essentially became a part of the medium. There were other applications to the technique – the projection Naruto had seen implied that he could move through whatever medium he was in, not to mention switch mediums at a whim and resurface from wherever he wanted – but the blonde had yet to get that far. From what Zetsu had told him about sensor-type shinobi, it sounded like there was the potential for him to learn to detect others while remaining hidden from view. That sounded amazingly useful for his future career path.

His state-of-mind thrown off by his confrontation with Ino, the Jinchūriki decided to leave the field and go meet Zetsu. He created a Shadow Clone to collect the senbon and kunai littering the area – instructing the doppelganger to drop off the weaponry back at his apartment when he was done – and then headed off in the direction of his tutor.

Zetsu greeted him in his normal fashion when he entered the plant-man's stretch of forest. Naruto nodded absently in response before jumping right into what he had accomplished. "So, I've figured out how to use _**Shinra Banshō no Jutsu**_, but I need some help to test its limits. If you can sense me," he clarified when his only response was White Zetsu blinking blankly at him.

**"You will need to find someone else to test its limits."** Naruto opened his mouth to protest, but Black Zetsu cut across him, stating, **"My sensory abilities are much more attuned than the average sensor-type. If you are in contact with some type of flora within my vicinity, I will find you, hidden by the **_**Shinra Banshō **_**or not.** So you see, Naruto-kun, it's not a matter of not wanting to, it's just that we are the wrong people to properly test your jutsu against," White Zetsu placated. Then he seemed to brighten considerably. "Why don't you ask your blonde friend for help? **Yes, run to your little girlfriend for assistance," **Black Zetsu sneered.

"How do you…?" Naruto began, but then shook his head. "Never mind." If Zetsu's sensing capacity really was as impressive as he said, finding out that Naruto spent more time with certain people was probably a trifling thing. Besides, if the former Kusa-nin had followed him to the Land of Waves to assure his safety, it wouldn't surprise the blonde too much to discover that his tutor was secretly spying on him within Konoha's walls. "I can't. We got into a bit of a fight."

"Aww," White Zetsu lamented, "what happened?"

Surprised at his tutor's interest, it took the blonde a moment to reply. "Oh…uh, I got mad that she ignored me in the Chūnin Exams. I thought things had changed between us, but I keep getting overlooked for that stupid Sasuke-teme."

It was rather cathartic to be able to insult his dark-haired teammate again.

"You shouldn't be so quick to break your friendships, Naruto-kun," White Zetsu advised him. "Friends are a rare commodity, especially in the world of shinobi."

Naruto stared at his tutor for almost a minute, completely dumbfounded. Sometimes, it took a bit of time to work through what Zetsu told him, but nothing even compared to the contradiction the plant-man had just started with this statement. "…_What?_" he managed at last. "That's just…you just…_what?_" he repeated. "You're…you're…_telling me_ I _should_ have friends?" His voice sounded a bit more high-pitched to his ears than he was used to, and he was forced to acknowledge the fact that he sounded to be on the verge of hysteria. Speaking with his tutor, especially when Zetsu began to talk in circles and contradictions, seemed to invoke a feeling similar to what Naruto imagined his brain exploding might be like.

"Well, if you can manage it, why not?" the former Kusa-nin queried innocently.

"But…but…" the blonde spluttered, resisting the urge to tear his hair out in frustration, "what about all that 'rely only on yourself' stuff you always talk about?"

**"That remains true.** **So long as you do not put your faith in the people you deem your friends to protect you when the time comes, **what harm is there in having them? They could prove beneficial, **such as your need for someone to practice with.** Just remember the other lessons you've learned. **Friends are convenient tools, easily pliable to your desires."**

Head spinning with the new paradox Zetsu had just introduced, Naruto tried to organize his thoughts. So, if he was hearing his tutor correctly, it was okay to have friends, but he should be careful when hanging out with them. Relying on them to come through for him was foolish – as putting his faith in Ino to treasure their friendship above her crush for Sasuke had proven to be – but he couldn't get very far in his ninja career (currently, anyway) without having someone to test his skills against. The blonde would just have to continue to make sure not to fall into the trap of the Will of Fire. Making friends was one thing, but sacrificing his life for them (or strangers) was still out of the question. He would muster forward with this new revelation, but Zetsu's most often quoted line would remain in the back of his head at all times.

Naruto groaned at the conflicting natures of all the advice Zetsu kept imparting upon him. His tutor truly was the definition of a walking contradiction.

So…it seemed he would require a partner to test his techniques with, as Zetsu was not an optimal person to work with. He wished he had someone to test his poisons on, just to see their effectiveness, but as they were made from nature, Zetsu would most likely claim immunity to anything he brewed up…and it would be rather hard to just _ask_ people who either weren't his friend or didn't trust him to allow themselves to be poisoned.

Thinking about his poisons reminded him of his issue with creating the blinding gas. "Hey, Zetsu, you know what you told me about the manchineel tree? Well, how do I collect the gas after burning the bark?"

**"The same way you do everything else…with chakra."**

_Oh…_ That seemed surprisingly obvious, now that he thought about it. Chakra was practically a requirement for almost everything associated with the ninja world. Granted, he wasn't exactly sure _how_ to use chakra to collect the gas, but at least he had something to work with now. He wouldn't get anything more from Zetsu; the plant-man would've told him outright if he wanted the blonde to know the exact answer.

He sighed, a long, exhausted sound. It looked like more experimentation was in order.

When Naruto returned to his apartment at the end of the day, there was a small purple vase filled with flowers placed just outside his door. He picked it up and brought it into his apartment, setting it carefully upon his countertop.

There were only two different kinds of plants in the vase. One was comprised of several small flowers with white petals and purple stamens, attached to small twigs broken off of a larger tree – pear blossoms, signifying a lasting friendship. These were surrounded by stalks of ornithogalum, flowers with six, white petals spread in a roughly star-shaped pattern, which symbolized atonement and reconciliation. Only one person would send him a message written in flowers, and as he stared at the arrangement, he wondered if he was the one in the wrong. Ino had fawned over Sasuke much longer than they had been friends…maybe some lenience wasn't too uncalled for. He had no previous friendship to serve as a basis for what a proper reaction was to certain scenarios, and Naruto would admit that, despite being encouraged to think through his actions before carrying them out, he was still susceptible to the impulsiveness of his temper.

That was problematic, and more than likely to get him in trouble if he didn't learn to become less emotional.

Besides, with Zetsu's words still resounding in his head, Naruto was keenly aware that Ino was probably his best bet with respect to a partner willing to test the limits of his techniques (and perhaps poisons). As he was considering what to do, his eyes caught the centerpiece of the floral arrangement.

It was an origami flower, folded carefully out of white paper and hidden amongst all the other white of the small bouquet. In the center of the petals was a small note, which he plucked out and opened. "We haven't gotten this far yet," he read, "but an origami flower means 'I will never take you for granted again'."

He stared at the note for almost a minute before hanging his head in resignation. "Damn…"

-l-l-l-

Naruto left his apartment early the next morning with the intention of speaking to Ino before he had to meet up with Team 7 for the first time since failing the exams. It was one thing to realize he had overreacted and was likely in the wrong…it was quite another to actually admit it and make amends.

He sighed to himself as he made his way to their field. If Ino had sent him the flowers with the hope that he would forgive her, she was most likely waiting for him in their usual hangout as opposed to Team 10's training grounds or the flower shop. Whatever she thought might happen, she would most likely want to do it in the privacy of their field rather than in a place full of witnesses.

The blonde was proven correct when he arrived at his destination to find Ino already there, performing katas and completely oblivious to his presence. He decided to stay silent and watch her until she noticed him, curious to see her practice on her own; almost every time he'd been privy to her training, it had been Asuma advising her, Shikamaru, and Chōji how to better improve their renowned attack formation.

Ino's taijutsu style seemed to be a combination of graceful flips and kicks that made it seem like she was gliding over the ground. It utilized her feet to a greater extent than her hands, forcing her to extend her legs in complicated gymnastics Naruto knew he had absolutely no hope of replicating. Then again, as much fun as physically beating someone down sounded, taijutsu wasn't something he particularly excelled at (or even planned on excelling at), and so the fact that Ino seemed to be practicing a style of fighting that he could never pull off wasn't overly surprising. The Academy taught a basic form to its students, but given how Konoha's clans specialized in different areas, it was probably expected that they would have their own taijutsu styles to complement their other abilities. Apparently the Yamanaka clan – or Ino, anyway – was very flexible.

Ino stopped abruptly and fell into what Naruto presumed to be an accidental split when her next movement put him in her eyesight. He didn't make a move, instead choosing to wait and see what his fellow blonde would do now that she knew she had an audience. They stared at each other for a long moment before Ino got to her feet and walked over to him. "I'm surprised to see you," she commented, keeping a neutral distance away.

"I got your message," he said, referring to the arrangement she'd left him. Then, unsure how to continue, he asked, "What were you practicing?"

A frown briefly crossed Ino's features and then disappeared. "It's called _Musō-Battō-Ryū_. I'm not very good at it yet."

"Really? You looked pretty…" he struggled to come up with the right word, finally settling on, "fluid." Ino didn't reply to that, and so the two blondes stared at each other in silence until Naruto took a deep breath and said, "I shouldn't've gotten so mad at you yesterday. I've never had friends before you, Shikamaru, and Chōji, so I'm not good at…sharing, I guess." An exhale escaped his lips, creating a sound similar to a horse nickering. "I _might've_ overreacted. I kinda have a history of doin' that, now that I think about it…especially when it comes to Sasuke.

"So, I guess what I'm saying is…if you're willing to forget about it, then I am, too."

Ino remained motionless for so long, Naruto thought he might have blown his chance at reconciling with her. It was strange to acknowledge that yesterday he had been mad enough to break off their friendship, and now here he was, asking her for it back. He had put so much effort into their bond that breaking it over something so trivial seemed stupid.

And if what Zetsu said was correct, he needed at least one friend to be able to determine the limits of his abilities. Building the trust required to ask someone to become his guinea pig for poisons would take a long time with someone he wasn't already acquainted with. Repeating that to himself allowed the blonde to convince himself that his apparent fickleness had a reason behind it.

"Okay," Ino allowed at last, "I guess I can do that." Naruto resisted the urge to sigh at her tone; Ino made it sound like she was doing him a favor by accepting his terms when she was the one who had tried apologizing to him the previous day. And _he_ certainly wasn't going to apologize, seeing as how he hadn't _technically_ done anything wrong. "But, for what it's worth," Ino continued, voice soft, "I _am _sorry. When I see Sasuke-ku— Sasuke," she corrected, and Naruto found himself appreciative of her effort to not flaunt her affections for the dark-haired boy in front of him, "I just sort of forget about everything else. I didn't mean to ignore you. Do you remember what you were like around Billboard Brow in the Academy?"

Naruto nodded, trying to suppress a grimace at the memory; in hindsight, it was a little sickening how reliant upon Sakura's attention he had been before meeting Zetsu. "Maybe you should focus on someone who'll actually pay attention to you?" he suggested.

"We'll see," she replied in a tone that indicated she was unlikely to do any such thing. "Did you like the flowers?" she asked, changing the subject.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. I didn't know you folded origami."

"I normally don't," was the response as Ino began to stretch, "but I felt really bad, and I thought that might be the best way to show that I cared about our friendship. It took awhile to get the flower just right."

Ignoring the feeling he suspected was guilt tugging at his conscience, the Jinchūriki once again started to watch Ino go through several movements from _Musō-Battō-Ryū_. "When are you gonna meet up with your team?"

"Oh, that's right, I didn't get to tell you!" The platinum blonde kicked out with one leg, twirled and lashed out with the other, and then twisted and kicked once more with the first one, but the movement was awkward, and Ino's low curse told him she wasn't pleased with the combo. Instead of continuing, she sat down and gestured for him to do the same. "We made it to the final round of the Chūnin Exams!" she declared just as he was taking a seat.

"Wow, really?"

She nodded emphatically before going on to explain the secret of the written phase and then the rules for the second part. Naruto listened with rapt attention to her description of the Forest of Death, mildly disappointed that he had caused Team 7 to fail before reaching the Forty-Fourth Training Ground. From the Yamanaka's description, the entire second stage was a survival exercise in the middle of the forest, which, given his new understanding of the many different kinds of plants, sounded like the perfect place for him to excel in.

Her retelling of how Team 10 had stolen the other scroll they needed from a team from the Hidden Waterfall was rather mundane, but given that they had enacted Shikamaru's plan, Naruto wasn't overly surprised. Executing a strategy that had maximum reward with minimal effort sounded exactly like something the Nara would come up with.

By the time she reached the point where the Hokage had confronted the teams who had passed the second stage of the Chūnin Exams, Ino was completely enthralled with her own story. "Then, Hokage-sama stated that the teams would be dissolved for the last stage of the exams, which would be a one-on-one style tournament held in one month's time. Since we didn't need to train together, Asuma-sensei thought it would be better if we practiced on our own or with our families to better prepare for the final round." She deflated suddenly, all of her enthusiasm vanishing like smoke in the wind. "Since my family's jutsu requires the target to stand still, and Shikamaru won't be there to hold them in his _**Kagemane**_, I'm working on my other skills, but…it's not going so well."

"You've still got a month before the third round begins," Naruto pointed out. "You'll probably figure out something by then."

Ino seemed to recover some of her normal vigor at the reassurance. "Yeah! Hey, would you be willing to train with me?"

_Well, that was convenient._ Once again, Ino had led the conversation directly into what he wanted to talk about. He had almost forgotten how easy it was to talk to his fellow blonde; sometimes it almost seemed like she could tell what was on his mind. "Well, I guess…if you really want me to…"

"Yeah, it'll be good practice to fight against someone I'm not used to," she smirked. "You'll be my personal punching bag."

"We'll see. Who are you gonna be fighting, anyway?"

"Some girl from Oto."

Naruto nodded absently. Ino had told him that only four teams had made it past the Forest of Death: Team 10, Rock Lee's team, and one team each from Suna and Oto. From the sound of it, his fellow blonde had gotten extremely lucky with her opponent, though given Ino's temperament, it was probably a better idea to not tell her that. "Well, just let me know when you wanna train," he told her. "I've gotta go meet up with my team…" he didn't even try to hide the scowl that crossed his features. "Later."

"Come by the flower shop when you're done!" Ino shouted as he departed.

-l-l-l-

"Greetings, Naruto-kun!"

"GAH!"

The blonde jerked in surprise, the kunai in his hand slicing a thin trail across his left arm; his long-sleeved shirt had been discarded long ago, lying by the trunk of a nearby tree. He whirled around to find Zetsu watching him, the white side's yellow eye focused on the cut. "Ah, I'm sorry, Naruto-kun!" White Zetsu bemoaned at the same time his darker half stated, **"Clumsy fool."**

Naruto ignored both of them, grabbing one of the scrolls from his holders, unrolling it on the ground, and applying chakra to its surface. In a puff of smoke, a small jar and a spool of bandages appeared, and the blonde uncorked the jar and dipped a finger in, spreading its contents over his cut. He hadn't yet been able to test the efficacy of this ointment yet, but what better time was there than the present? It was rather lucky that he was practicing with non-poisoned weapons, as he had no antidote to any of his poisons.

…_Maybe I should get on that,_ he realized.

It wasn't like he didn't have the time. His meetings with Team 7 had been cancelled by Kakashi until the Chūnin Exams concluded, which Naruto was perfectly fine with; the less he saw of Sakura and Sasuke, the better. His teacher's decision left him plenty of free time to spend as he wished, and research into antidotes for his poisons – which he would need if he planned on asking Ino to be his guinea pig – seemed like a good way to fill the void.

Wrapping the bandages around his arm, he ignored Black Zetsu's insult and said, "S'okay, I'm fine. But…what're you doin' here?"

"Aren't you happy to see us?" White Zetsu asked, sounding hurt. Naruto chose not to respond, instead focusing on his own task as he waited for Black Zetsu to take over the conversation. It wasn't yet midnight, but the blonde knew that the plant-man's dark counterpart wouldn't put up with his childish side's immaturity for long. He was proven right when Black Zetsu said, **"He is uninterested in your babble. We are here on business,"** he continued, directing the latter comment at Naruto.

"Business? Couldn't this wait until our lesson tomorrow?" Being ambushed in the middle of his late night training by his dual-toned tutor was unusual, and probably a bad omen.

"No," replied both sides. "Tell us, Naruto-kun, what would you do** if it was discovered that Konoha was to be attacked?"**

-l-l-l-

**Author's Note:** _Hanakotoba_ apparently doesn't have enough flowers for my purposes, so I'm branching out into generic flower language when necessary. Ornithogalum is more commonly known as the Star of Bethlehem. Also, _**Shinra Banshō** _is the name I've given the Attack Prevention Technique Orochimaru uses; it's based on a similar technique from episode 165.

Why did the Sound team pass and not Kabuto's team? Because no Sasuke means the Sound team fights for itself, and Kabuto doesn't have to stay around to help Team 7 pass. So he fails in the Forest of Death to keep his cover.

The feedback from the last chapter was AMAZING! Fun fact: my original idea for this story involved Zetsu interrupting Team 7's fight with Orochimaru in the Forest of Death and using nature to kick some ass. But then I realized that that was kind of uncharacteristic of Zetsu, and that DA!Naruto had no method of passing the first exam. Then I realized that he wouldn't _care _about passing the exam, and so the previous chapter was born. So thanks for all the reviews, and let me know what you think of this chapter!


	7. Ends & Means

_When you care only for yourself, what lengths won't you go to for the ends to justify the means?_

-l-l-l-

Naruto blinked. "What would I do?" Blue eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Why? Is Konoha gonna be attacked, or is this just another one of your weird tests?"

White Zetsu's yellow eye shifted slightly in the same movement Naruto had learned to identify as his tutor holding a private conversation. Finally, Black Zetsu stated, **"We have discovered a conspiracy between Sunagakure and Otogakure that implicates them in an upcoming, joint invasion upon Konohagakure. **Given this knowledge, what would you do?"

Naruto paused to let the information sink in. If Zetsu was correct, then the Hidden Leaf was in trouble…but just because that was true didn't mean that the plant-man wasn't also testing him. His first thought was that informing the higher-ups of the Hidden Leaf would probably be a good idea…

He shook his head; that wasn't a wise move. For one thing, the likelihood of them believing him was small (though the Hokage might, considering their prior relationship), especially given his notoriety as a prankster (despite having not pulled a prank in months). Then, even if they _did_ believe him, they would ask how he had come across that information, and that would reveal Zetsu's presence, which would deprive him of his tutor.

That was unacceptable. Zetsu still had plenty that he should be able to teach him…not to mention that being found out to have connections with a missing-nin would probably have unfortunate consequences.

Besides, by Zetsu's philosophy, if Konoha couldn't figure out that it was about to be invaded, it probably deserved to suffer the repercussions of being caught unaware.

But that opened up another set of problems. The Hidden Leaf was still his home, and he had nowhere to go if it was attacked. Even if he somehow managed to escape the village, once Konoha recovered, it would certainly send hunters to find him and bring him back, where he would then have to deal with the repercussions of his actions. Of course, there was always the chance he could be presumed killed-in-action, but that seemed unlikely without sufficient evidence. For now, the problem of surviving outside of Konoha on his own merit remained unchanged from the first time he'd discussed with Zetsu how to not be a tool.

So that left…stopping the invasion on his own. _Great_, he thought with a scowl. That was even less likely than running away and being considered dead. One Genin against the assaulting might of two Hidden Villages?

The thought was laughable.

Or, in the alternative, he could embrace Zetsu's tried-and-true philosophy and fend for himself. That probably had the best shot of keeping him alive, now that he thought about it. A strategy that involved doing nothing for Konoha and instead focused on protecting his own life…

That seemed doable.

Naruto looked at Zetsu. "If there's no way to stop the invasion, I'd make sure I survive by any means necessary. But it would be best to stop it so that I can stay here and grow stronger in safety. Isn't there a saying, um…better the enemy you know than the one you don't? It would be bad if Konoha changed because of the invasion, right?"

Black Zetsu laughed. **"Keep the status quo for your own benefit. Defend Konoha for your own needs and protect yourself regardless of the outcome…what a clever solution. You're learning."**

_Did I pass the test?_ Naruto wondered.

After another private conversation, Black Zetsu said, **"Follow us."**

The blonde resealed the bandages and jar of ointment, put the summoning scroll in his pouch, and then grabbed his olive-colored shirt and threw it on. Zetsu was already zipping through the forest ahead of him, popping up in random places so the blonde could keep track of where his tutor was heading. After almost 20 minutes of running, they finally stopped at the edge of the tree line overlooking a large building with a statue of a giant fish placed on either side of the roof. One of the fish had a small blip perched atop it, and Naruto realized that it was actually a person sitting there, looking at the moon. "What –?" Naruto began, but Zetsu interrupted him.

**"That boy is a Genin of Sunagakure. There is something…unusual…about his chakra. It's reminiscent of yours, a blending of sorts."**

"A blending?" Naruto echoed. "You think he's a…a Jinchūriki?" The word was a little strange on his tongue; Zetsu had told him that that was what those who housed a Tailed Beast were called, though the plant-man admitted that he had never actually met one before Naruto. Their use, however, Zetsu had apparently heard of during the Third Shinobi World War, when Iwa and Kumo had mobilized the containers of the Four- and Eight-Tails, respectively.

The tales of the destruction they wreaked were apparently legendary, and it made Naruto a little hesitant in approaching the person who could be Suna's Jinchūriki.

"It's possible," White Zetsu chirped. **"It would be foolish for Sunagakure and Otogakure to attack Konohagakure without an ace.** All you need to do is remove the ace from the picture."

"O…kay," the blonde agreed slowly, not looking away from the Suna-nin, "so how do I 'remove the ace'?"

"No idea," White Zetsu offered unhelpfully. **"Killing him would be the most prudent solution, **but you don't know what he's capable of, so attempting that might put yourself in danger."

"I'd like to avoid that," he muttered, "though I think that I'll be in danger no matter what I do. …Well, maybe if I talk to him, he'll let something slip." With that, he walked out of the forest and jumped up to the roof, barely catching White Zetsu's cry of 'Good luck!' The red-haired boy didn't pay him any attention, so Naruto, unsure how to proceed, hazarded, "Uh…my name's Uzumaki Naruto –"

"I don't care," responded the Sand Genin. "Leave before I kill you."

_Need to be careful about what I say._ The redhead spoke so matter-of-factly that Naruto had little doubt he would carry out what he threatened if the blonde didn't tread carefully. It reminded him a little bit of Black Zetsu, though the Suna-nin's voice was quieter and coarser than the harsh sneering of his tutor. "Don't you wanna hear what I hafta say?"

"No."

"I know what you're up to," Naruto blurted, completely contradicting his previous thought, and when the other boy turned dead, teal eyes on him, he knew that it had been a bad idea to say as such. "Uh, I mean…"

Sand shot out from the gourd strapped to the boy's back, and Naruto, having fully expected the meeting to go poorly, immediately sank through the building's tiled roof. Safe from the wave of sand, the blonde mentally thanked every god he knew that Zetsu had decided to show him the Attack Prevention Technique. Above, he could hear the Suna-nin trying to discern where his prey had gotten to, muttering words to himself in confusion.

_Sand…_ That would be problematic to get past if he wanted to somehow kill Gaara. Sand was essentially a derivative of earth, which meant that his poisoned senbon wouldn't be able to pierce it if it was used as a shield.

Naruto waited until he could no longer hear the other boy talking before slowly releasing his chakra, allowing his head to meld out of the roof's surface. The Suna-nin was still there, his gaze fixated once more on the moon. "Aren't you gonna go to sleep soon?" the blonde asked, looking for any opening in the boy's defenses.

"No."

He blinked, mildly surprised that the other boy had actually responded. Whatever urge that had gripped him and caused him to attack seemed to have faded; either that, or he was just biding his time, waiting for Naruto to screw up. Well, he would just pull a Zetsu and remain merged with the roof to offer better protection, then; losing his life for some plan that _might_ work to prevent Konoha's destruction wasn't a very worthwhile trade.

When the Suna-nin didn't seem to pay him any mind over the next several minutes, Naruto decided that it would be better to abort his plan for the night and try again some other time. He allowed the Attack Prevention Technique to drop, causing his body to unmerge with the building. His reappearance must have grabbed his companion's attention, for the red-haired Genin said, "That jutsu…is a useful trick."

"Uh…yeah, I suppose so…"

"Once I figure it out, it will not prevent me from killing you."

Naruto blanched at how deadpan the other boy's voice was. He laughed nervously. "Right…well then, I'm off…"

"Gaara."

"Hm?"

"My name…Sabaku no Gaara," intoned the redhead. "I will enjoy crushing the life from your body, Uzumaki Naruto."

Naruto shuddered at the Suna-nin's one-track mind, and then jumped off the roof and headed for home, unsure what to do next.

-l-l-l-

Naruto walked past the secretary's desk and into the Hokage's office, his expression carefully neutral. It was uncharacteristic of the personality the Sandaime was used to, but then again, his new outfit was probably enough of an alert that he wasn't the same person he had been in the Academy. And as he was being called in under unknown circumstances, Naruto preferred not to give anything away until he knew what was going on.

Sarutobi Hiruzen was seated in his usual place behind his desk, the red and white Hokage hat resting on his head, a lit pipe settled between his lips. Off to the side, arms crossed over his broad chest, stood a tall man with long, white hair and red lines running down his face from beneath his eyes. He was dressed in a long-sleeved shirt kimono and pants, green in color, accented by a thigh-length red vest. Mesh armor could be seen covering his lower arms and chest – leading Naruto to believe he was wearing some sort of mesh shirt underneath his outfit – and a horned forehead protector with the kanji for 'oil' took the place of the usual Leaf sigil.

_Jiraiya of the Sannin,_ Naruto recognized. After Zetsu had belittled him on how little he knew of his own village and its citizens following his ignorance of Tsunade, the blonde had found a book detailing the Second Shinobi World War and its major battles. He had skimmed through it (because history was _still_ boring), but Tsunade's prowess of neutralizing poisons had caught his eye, not to mention the epic battle in which she and her two teammates, Jiraiya and Orochimaru, had fought Amegakure's Hanzō the Salamander and survived. It was there the trio had been dubbed 'the Sannin', revered as some of the greatest shinobi Konoha had ever produced.

It would behoove the blonde to be courteous, even if he had no idea _why_ the white-haired man was there. "Hokage-sama, Jiraiya-sama," he said, inclining his head politely, "you called for me?"

The Hokage recovered quickly from Naruto's respectful address, unused to the deference. It had been several months since they'd interacted; perhaps in that time, Naruto had grown up. "Yes, Naruto-kun, I did. There have been some things brought to my attention by your sensei, and I wished to hear what you had to say about them."

…_Crap._ "Ah…sure."

Hiruzen eyed him for a moment, blowing out a puff of smoke as he did so. "I suppose I could start by noting your differences in clothing and attitude. What brought about these changes?"

Naruto heaved a mental sigh of relief; this was a question he could answer easily enough. "I realized that, as a shinobi, it was rude of me to not show respect to my superiors. Following orders is important, right? As for these," he continued, gesturing to his outfit, "well, orange isn't very good for sneaking around and stuff, so I figured I should change to something less noticeable. It's not bad to buy new clothes, is it, Hokage-sama?"

The Hokage's face flickered briefly with an expression that Naruto hoped was guilt. As he had spent time with Zetsu and learned to decipher some of the plant-man's expressions, he had decided to adopt some of White Zetsu's mannerisms. By widening his eyes marginally, or tilting his head to the side, or adding just the _slightest_ pout of innocence and hurt to his voice, he figured he could instill a feeling of sympathy or guilt in whomever he was conversing with; all of that came, he supposed, from White Zetsu's childlike persona, as children couldn't really disguise what they were feeling. Even if it was some colossal ruse White Zetsu used for his own amusement, the fact that it seemed to be working was a blessing.

Hiruzen shook his head. "No it isn't," he agreed. "You mentioned that following orders is important, but Kakashi has indicated that you are often late to team meetings. Punctuality is also an important quality for shinobi to have."

Naruto scowled at that. "Kakashi-sensei makes us wait around for _hours,_" he stressed, his aggravation with the man surfacing. "If being on time is so important, how come he's allowed to get away with it? Aren't our superiors supposed to set a good example for us to follow?"

"That's true," the Sandaime coughed, shooting a brief glance at Jiraiya. "Our elders should serve as positive role models for future generations –"

"Plus, it's not like Kakashi-sensei has actually taught us anything," Naruto interrupted, now fully involved in defending himself. In the back of his mind, the blonde recognized that he was becoming a bit emotional – something that could be dangerous, especially since the Hokage hadn't prompted him with another question – but his irritation at being placed upon Team 7 finally had a legitimate outlet, one who could do something. If the Hokage wanted to hear Naruto's side of the story, he would get the whole thing. "All he does is sit back and read his book and talk about teamwork while we do missions.

"But Sasuke-teme and Sakura aren't interested in working with me! That bastard only wants to work by himself, and Sakura just follows him everywhere, so I'm left in the dust. If teamwork is so important, how come I got put with the two people who don't want anything to do with me?"

"It's tradition to place the lowest ranked student with the highest ranked one in order to balance –"

"Without any look at how they interact?" Naruto asked, incredulous. That was a point that the blonde had been wondering for some time now – why _had_ he gotten paired with Sasuke and Sakura, two people who obviously didn't like him? Granted, most of his graduating class didn't like him, but they could've tried to team him up with people who were at least neutral towards him, like Shino or Hinata. "Ino got paired with Shikamaru and Chōji because of some connection among their clans, but Shikamaru and Chōji were _both_ near the bottom of the class. How's that balanced? It's not fair!"

"Kid's got a point," Jiraiya mentioned, speaking for the first time since the meeting had begun. "It took far too long for Orochimaru and me to get along and work cohesively. Who knows how much better off we would've been if he and I were on different teams."

"Except that Orochimaru served as a good motivator for you to grow stronger, did he not?" Hiruzen pointed out.

Jiraiya grunted in reluctant acknowledgment. "Still, the same principle doesn't necessarily apply to all teams."

"Hmm, apparently not." The Hokage returned his attention to Naruto. "It sounds like you're not very happy with your team, Naruto-kun. Is that why you failed the Chūnin Exams, to punish your teammates?"

It was, Naruto decided, better to be honest when he could so that his lies (when delivered) weren't examined closely. "I wouldn't sabotage myself, Hokage-sama!" he protested. "I still wanna become Hokage!"

Okay, so that wasn't true in the slightest, but it was better to pretend that there was still some measure of the old Naruto lurking under the surface of this new, polite façade. That, too, should theoretically make his actions less suspicious, and the less he was looked into, the more he could accomplish on his own. If he had to manipulate any sentimentality the old man still held for him to achieve his own ends, so be it.

"Hmm…well then, Naruto-kun, do you have a suggestion for how to remedy this problem?"

_Plenty,_ Naruto thought, but didn't say so aloud. Instead, he shrugged, keeping the image of a boy who wasn't sure how to answer a question. "I dunno…can't I just leave Team 7?"

"But then how would you learn anything?"

"I've been teaching myself!" he proclaimed with more enthusiasm than strictly necessary. It was a bit annoying how upbeat he had been before meeting Zetsu, as if saying something would happen in a positive voice could ensure that it would. The Hokage quirked an eyebrow in silent query of how such a feat was possible. Naruto tried to look sheepish as he offered, "Well, Ino's been teaching me about flowers, and since some of them are poisonous, I've been learning how to make poisons."

That was a half-truth; during the sessions Ino taught him about flowers, she would warn him about any properties they had that he should be wary of. That included pointing out which ones were poisonous, like wolf's bane, a plant Naruto had full intention of using in a future brew.

But it was convenient to have an out for when he was asked where his knowledge of plants and poisons came from. Though unlikely that Ino would be questioned, having a known source – especially since the fact that he spent plenty of time with her and the other members of Team 10 wasn't exactly a secret – would make the origin of his abilities far less suspicious. Any supplementary knowledge he got could be pointed towards books he had read after becoming interested in botany.

To Naruto's mind, it was absolutely genius, and judging by the Hokage's mild expression of interest, the old man was buying it. "That's a very unique skill set, Naruto-kun, and I'm happy to see that you've…acclimated to a difficult situation, but what would you do about missions? As a Genin, you can't take or perform missions without the approval of a Jōnin-sensei, and you will eventually run out of money if you don't go on missions."

"Well, my team stopped meeting up since we failed the Chūnin Exams," the blonde began, "so I was thinkin' about working at Ino's flower shop."

Though he had yet to ask, the idea had come to him not long after Ino's explanation of the final round of the Chūnin Exams. With his fellow blonde busy brushing up her skills in preparation for her fight, Naruto figured her part-time position at Yamanaka Flowers would open up (especially if her father wanted to also take time out to train her). Not only would the job give him some extra cash in his spare time, but Yamanaka Flowers was the easiest way to get his hands on some wolf's bane.

The Hokage nodded thoughtfully, tapping his pipe against the desk. "I suppose that might instill a good work ethic in you," he allowed, "but that leaves the fate of Team 7 rather unsure. Fortunately," he continued before Naruto could say anything, "I have a solution. Kakashi has volunteered to take young Sasuke under his wing –"

_Figures,_ Naruto thought to himself, resisting the urge to snort at what he saw as blatant favoritism.

"— while Jiraiya here will oversee yours and Sakura's training."

Blue eyes widened in surprise; now he had an explanation for Jiraiya's presence. "Really?" The opportunity to train under one of the legendary Sannin – even if it was alongside his erstwhile teammate – was unique, and if the man's reputation was anything to go by, sure to be worthwhile.

The Hokage smiled. "Yes. I will leave it to Jiraiya to discuss your training schedule. You're dismissed."

"Meet me at the Fourth Training Ground at 10 tomorrow morning," Jiraiya told Naruto.

"Sure thing, Jiraiya-sensei," he acknowledged. "See ya, Hokage-sama, and thanks!"

It was nice that things finally seemed to be looking up, Naruto mused as he left the Hokage Tower and ventured towards the usual patch of forest he met up with Zetsu in. Partway there, it occurred to him that the Hokage must have already had the idea of him becoming Jiraiya's disciple in mind and that the questions were a test of how he thought rather than actual prompts for solutions.

He was, quite frankly, a little tired of having to think his way through the mental tests posed by others.

Speaking of which…

"Hey, Zetsu, guess what?" he posed when the plant-man made his appearance. "I'm gonna be trained by Jiraiya of the Sannin!"

"Congratulations!" White Zetsu offered at the same time Black Zetsu cautioned, **"Be wary."**

"Thanks! And, uh…why?"

Black Zetsu released a noise that sounded like a sigh of exasperation. **"Think, fool."**

Naruto heaved his own sigh but did as he was bade. Now that he thought about it, it was a little suspicious that, after being called out by Kakashi, he would get rewarded by being apprenticed to Jiraiya. Even assuming the Hokage had bought everything he'd said – and while he'd like to believe that was so, the likelihood seemed small – Naruto felt like there was something he was missing.

Maybe – and it was entirely possible that his paranoia developed from working with Zetsu was in overdrive – Jiraiya's placement as his new teacher was a way to keep a closer eye on him. And what would happen if Jiraiya turned out to be as ineffective a teacher as Kakashi had been? Just because he had a reputation didn't mean he was qualified to be a teacher; Kakashi's reputation was impressive, if Zabuza's knowledge of him was anything to go by, and the silver-haired man had failed at passing knowledge on to his students. Did it really come back around to being distrustful of anyone who was placed in a position to influence his future potential, so much so that he _actually_ had to learn everything by himself?

But that wasn't necessarily fair to Jiraiya, who hadn't even been given an opportunity to show his teaching skills yet.

**"You seem to have some measure of my warning,"** Black Zetsu observed, and Naruto tried not to frown at the comment. Was he really so transparent in front of his tutor? He thought he was getting better at hiding what he thought or felt, but apparently that wasn't so; had he fooled the Hokage at all?

Then again, maybe it was just that, subconsciously, he knew he had no reason to put up a pretense for the former Kusa-nin. Zetsu had no expectations either for or about him, meaning that everything he said was based off of observation. On the other hand, he had grown up around the citizens of Konoha, and their views of him were skewed by the image he had portrayed for 12 years. It was more beneficial to allow what he was feeling to show around Zetsu so the plant-man could point out where he was making mistakes in his thought process; around the village, not so much.

**"Do not make us repeat the lesson you already know."**

"Yeah, yeah, don't rely on anyone else," Naruto exhaled. "You can stop naggin' now."

**"If you would remember our teachings, we wouldn't need to 'nag'.** But Jiraiya could teach him a lot," White Zetsu pointed out. **"…I suppose that's true."** He chuckled darkly. **"Even a man of such repute as the Sannin Jiraiya is not above being someone's tool. You will have to absorb as much knowledge as possible from him without falling for his tricks."**

"No worries there," the blonde assured his tutor, "I'm not interested in the Will of Fire." He paused, as if to let Zetsu comment on his declaration, and when the plant-man didn't, he continued, "So what do you think he's gonna teach me?"

**"Unknown.** Maybe you can ask about your elemental affinity?" White Zetsu suggested. When Naruto opened his mouth to ask for elaboration, Black Zetsu cut across him and said, **"The element to which your chakra is naturally attuned to produce."**

As vague an explanation as that was, Naruto's blue eyes lit up in understanding. "Oh, like how Sasuke can breathe fire?"

"Yep!"

"What's your affinity, Zetsu?"

"It was _**Doton**_. Now…" the plant-man shrugged instead of finishing his thought, and Naruto could tell that Zetsu didn't care which element he was aligned with after adopting his current appearance. **"If Jiraiya asks, don't sign the Summoning Contract,"** Black Zetsu added.

Naruto blinked. He'd heard about Summoning Contracts from the book he'd skimmed on the Second Shinobi World War; they were powerful tools used by shinobi to bring forth companions to aid in battle. In the Sannin's battle against Hanzo, the Ame-nin had called upon a giant salamander to help defeat the trio of Leaf shinobi. Summons seemed to be versatile and useful weapons, even if they didn't exactly endorse the idea of fighting on one's own merit. "You think he'd let me?"

**"We have no idea whether he would or not, **but as he can summon toads, it is likely that he holds their Summoning Contract. **If he does offer it to you, you **_**can't**_** sign it."**

It was strange that Zetsu – who promoted trying new things and allowing Naruto to find his own path – would outright tell him not to do something. "Why can't I sign it?"

**"There are a multitude of special clauses in Summoning Contracts,"** Black Zetsu explained, **"including the ability of a summon to call upon its summoner through the **_**Gyaku Kuchiyose no Jutsu**_**.** It would bring you back to their home, **putting you at their mercy.** Do you really want that?"

Naruto grimaced at the thought of being at the toads' – or anyone's – beck and call. "No. Thanks for the warning. But how do you know that?"

**"Kusa possesses one or two Summoning Contracts,"** Black Zetsu offered by way of explanation. In typical Zetsu fashion, Naruto noted that the answer didn't really explain how he knew the details of a Summoning Contract, but the blonde decided that if it really mattered, the plant-man would tell him more.

Still, this was Zetsu he was talking to, so… "How do I know I can trust what you're sayin'?"

"He's adapted well," White Zetsu noted; briefly, Naruto wished he had 100 ryō every time his tutor said that. Zetsu's darker side didn't dignify the statement with a response, instead telling Naruto, **"Consider this a gift…no strings attached, no tests. Don't sign a Summoning Contract."**

After a moment of thought, the blonde nodded. "Okay, Zetsu, I'll trust you…this time. No Summoning Contracts."

-l-l-l-

Naruto crossed his arms at head-level to block Ino's airborne flurry of kicks. She pushed off his limbs and back-flipped through the air, release a trio of kunai at him as she did so. "Nice combo," he complimented as she landed, lowering his arms and pulling out the kunai stuck in the right one.

Pupil-less, baby blue eyes went wide when Ino found her equilibrium and looked at her sparring partner. "I didn't think those would hit you!" she exclaimed, a note of worry in her voice.

"Small wounds," he tried to reassure her as she walked up to him. She grabbed one long, olive-colored sleeve and pulled it down to reveal the extent of the injuries. "You're worrying over nothing, really." When Ino didn't immediately release his arm, the Jinchūriki sighed and relented. "Look, if you're this worried, just lift up my shirt and grab the jar on the far left."

Ino did as her fellow blonde bade, taking the ceramic orb from its pouch and weighing it in her hand. Naruto noticed that she still had a grip on his dominant arm, so he said, "Uh, if you could just let go of my arm, I'll –"

"I'll do it," she interjected. "Hold your sleeve up." His hand took the place of hers, and he watched silently as she uncorked the jar and brought it up to her nose. "What is this stuff?"

"Salve. I made it myself."

"Really?" She dipped a finger in and came out with a greenish-brown glob, which she promptly began to rub over the injuries she'd inflicted. "Bandages?"

"Left kunai pouch."

Ino dug into the pouch strapped to Naruto's left thigh, procuring a roll of bandages from it. Gently, she wrapped his right arm from wrist to just below the elbow, tying it carefully. Naruto silently watched her work, confused. The injuries were really only flesh wounds, but Ino was acting as if she had mortally wounded him. If the kunai had been poisoned – as most of his were, and he briefly entertained the thought of telling Ino to start doing the same to her weapons – he would be more worried, but as it was, she just seemed to be overreacting.

Guilt, he guessed, was a powerful motivator. Still, the blonde would admit to himself that Ino fussing over him like a mother might was…nice, in a way. It wasn't like he had anyone else to care about his well-being; Zetsu was far too independent and caustic to fret over him, and he didn't have any other close connections who would worry about him in a similar manner.

His attention returned to his sparring partner when he sensed Ino glaring at him. "What?"

"Why didn't you dodge those?" she demanded.

"Didn't see 'em," he admitted. With his arms blocking his face from Ino's kicks, his vision had been compromised. He was more willing to let his arms get bruised and pierced by metal than his face, though he realized that he would've been left at the mercy of a second opponent, had one existed. Just one more weakness he would need to fix…though the idea of tricking the opponent into taking a kunai to an arm or leg instead of taking a blow to the face wasn't bad. Shinobi were more likely to allow a flesh wound to occur if the alternative was protecting something more vital, and since all of Naruto's equipment was poisoned, all he needed to do was take advantage of that mindset. "It really was a good combo."

Ino stared at him a bit longer before sitting on the ground with a sigh. "Let's take a break." Naruto followed her example, taking it a step further by lying down beside her with his hands pillowed behind his head. "How's your training going?"

"Eh…" Truthfully, his training with Jiraiya reminded him a lot of how he learned things from Zetsu. The Sannin apparently believed in giving Naruto an assignment and then leaving him to his own devices to figure out how to go about accomplishing it. He would often disappear after telling the blonde what to work on, and there was something in the way he grinned that made Naruto think whatever he did wasn't exactly savory. It was a good thing Naruto was used to the learn-on-your-own teaching methodology Jiraiya employed, otherwise he thought the constant abandonment would grate on his nerves more than it already did.

Jiraiya _had_ said that he was a little busy at the moment, which made the blonde think that he might be part of some defense force Konoha was putting together to combat the impending Oto-Suna invasion. Naruto hoped that the Hidden Leaf had a plan to thwart its invaders, but even assuming that was true, the blonde refused to trust his life in the hands of someone else. As a result, he had continued to approach Gaara to try to glean any information he could from the boy and construct contingencies, though without success.

Maybe after the Chūnin Exams were over and there were less outside worries to focus on, Jiraiya would take a more hands-on approach with his training, though Zetsu's usual warning burned in the back of his mind. "I think Jiraiya-sensei is busy with something else right now," he responded, "so the lessons are kinda slow."

"That sucks. Still, to have one of the Sannin training you…that's pretty lucky. How's Billboard Brow treating you?"

"She's gone."

Even though he couldn't see it, Naruto could almost imagine the incredulous look on Ino's face at that announcement. "Gone?"

"Yep. Workin' in the hospital now."

"Wow…"

Naruto closed his eyes and enjoyed the brief lull in conversation. The situation with Sakura was actually a bit more complicated than he made it sound, but he found the details unimportant to impart upon his fellow blonde (a personality trait he attributed to Zetsu; as disturbing as it sounded, he was gradually adopting his tutor's quirks). On the first day of their training, Sakura had (hesitantly) buried the hatchet between them and apologized for her treatment of him during their time together on Team 7. Naruto had accepted her amends if only to promote a hospitable working environment, but had sworn to himself that they would never become friends; no matter how nice Sakura appeared, too much damage had already been done.

He could forgive Ino for one transgression; Sakura's multiple slights against him were much harder to forget.

As luck had had it, though, he hadn't needed to put up with his pink-haired ex-teammate for all that long. Jiraiya had professed himself to be a poor tutor in genjutsu and other fine-chakra manipulations, and Sakura – with her low reserves, extraordinary control, and desire to avoid combat on the frontlines – had decided to enroll in the medic-nin trainee program at Konoha Hospital, thus removing herself from the Sannin's tutelage.

Naruto would count himself lucky if he never had to run into either of his former teammates ever again.

The blonde raised both of his legs into the air and then brought them down, leveraging his body into a sitting position. Seated cross-legged, he put his hands on his ankles and looked at Ino. "My turn now. You ready?"

Ino nodded, closing her baby blue eyes and bringing her hands into the Ram sign. After a moment, Naruto started channeling his own chakra, seeding it into the ground beneath him while simultaneously coating his body in a thin layer. With the ease born of practice, Naruto sank into the ground with the Attack Prevention Technique.

Members of the Yamanaka clan were apparently not only known for their techniques involving manipulating the minds of others, but also for their sensing abilities. Ino hadn't yet begun training as a sensor-type kunoichi when Naruto had first brought up the topic, but she had started learning when he had pointed out how useful a skill it would be to have. Now, while Ino worked on her chakra-sensing abilities, Naruto tried to perfect the _**Shinra Banshō**_'s non-melding abilities – moving through mediums and becoming undetectable by sensors.

Since Ino was still an amateur sensor, it was hard to tell what progress he was making with the latter ability, but he had finally figured out the trick to the former. By spreading his chakra throughout a medium, he essentially created a path he could travel through. Theoretically – and according to Zetsu – he became undetectable because his chakra was then matched with whatever medium he was a part of. Naruto had his doubts about that, if only because he found it hard to believe that using chakra could disguise him from being discovered by a chakra-sensing technique, but Zetsu had yet to steer him wrong. Not to mention it would be rather fitting for the plant-man to teach him a jutsu so contradictory in nature.

With deliberate slowness, he unfolded his legs and began to walk through the earth. It was a bit strange to be moving underground almost as easily as above it; the sensation of walking – although that wasn't quite the right word for what he was doing…phasing, perhaps, was more accurate – through dirt, rocks, and roots was rather unique. With time, he figured he would eventually get faster at moving through whatever medium he was in, but for now, getting used to the mechanism the **_Shinra Banshō_** employed was most important.

He continued to phase through the underground, spreading his chakra into the soil and moving around in random patterns to test his aboveground partner. After what he determined to be enough time had passed, he released his hold over the Attack Prevention Technique and surfaced 50 feet behind Ino. It took almost 15 seconds for her to turn towards his position and open her eyes, dropping her hands to her side when she saw him. "I couldn't sense you," she sighed as he walked over.

"Well, that's kinda the point," Naruto observed.

"Yeah, but we don't know if that's because the jutsu is working or because I…"

She made a vague gesture to avoid admitting a weakness, and Naruto decided that improvements couldn't be made if Ino wouldn't concede her shortcomings. "Suck?" he supplied. Ino glowered at him, but her lack of response was telling. "You're getting better," he said, trying to boost her spirits, "especially since you've only been doing this for a short time. And it didn't take you nearly as long to sense me this time."

"Thanks."

Naruto ignored her sarcasm. "We have plenty of time to practice before the final round of the Chūnin Exams begins, and it's not like either of us are goin' anywhere." Since Jiraiya was busy with things in Konoha, and Naruto didn't have a team or teacher capable of performing missions with, he was essentially sidelined until at least the end of the Chūnin Exams. That was fine with him, as the break gave him more time to perfect the useful techniques he was adding to his arsenal, not to mention increasing the quantity of poisons he carried on his person.

"Good point," Ino conceded, then continued, "I need to go meet with Dad; he's supposed to start teaching me a new jutsu. Are you sure you don't want to test your jutsu with him? He's a much better sensor than I am."

Naruto shook his head. "No, I wanna keep what I can do secret for as long as I can. But can I come along anyway? I wanted to ask him something."

"Sure."

Inoichi was more surprised than hesitant when Naruto professed an interest in working at Yamanaka Flowers. It would give the man more time to prepare his daughter for her upcoming match, Naruto pointed out, and it wasn't like he didn't know about all the different flowers; several of his lessons with Ino had taken place under Inoichi's supervision, after all.

And so, after a demonstration of how to use the register, the finding of an apron in the blonde's size, and a verbal agreement of his hourly wage, Uzumaki Naruto found himself gainfully employed at Yamanaka Flowers.

-l-l-l-

Two weeks. It took an entire fortnight of meeting with Gaara and utilizing the _**Shinra Banshō **_to escape being crushed by sand to actually make some headway with the foreign Genin. Naruto wasn't entirely sure why exactly the redhead decided to forego trying to kill him that night, or why he even decided to speak to him, but he was glad for the break. Perhaps in his own way, Gaara respected the fact that the blonde was strong enough to continuously avoid deathblows, and so was rewarding him for a feat which others had yet to manage. If nothing else, the redhead seemed both perpetually amused and aggravated by the Attack Prevention Technique which continually denied him his kill.

Not that the reprieve meant that Naruto wouldn't remain wary of any potential tricks on the Suna-nin's part, but it still opened up the opportunity to get somewhere with hindering the invasion plan.

"I know that you have two different types of chakra in you," Naruto stated after they had sat in silence and stared at the moon for several minutes; apparently it was one of Gaara's pastimes. He turned to look at his red-haired companion. "Are you also a Jinchūriki?"

"A Jinchūriki…what an apt title," Gaara mused. His voice seemed to hold no inflection whatsoever, making it difficult to discern what he was thinking; in some ways, the Suna-nin reminded him of his former classmate Aburame Shino, though intensely more bloodthirsty and creepy. "I have always considered myself a monster, but a Jinchūriki…how fitting."

Something in the way Gaara said that made Naruto think there was more to his story than he knew. "What do you mean?"

"Jinchūriki…a power crafted from the sacrifice of another human. It is fitting because my birth took the life of my mother…and then, for the past six years, I have taken countless more lives as my father sent his own shinobi to assassinate me."

Gaara's eyes widened slightly as he spoke, his pupils shrinking to pinpoints as if reflecting his insanity. Naruto was put off by his companion's candor, unable to imagine living a life like the Suna-nin was describing. So much about the redhead's attitude and personality seemed to be explained based off of that one little tidbit of information.

Gaara wasn't finished talking. "When you are targeted by your family for assassination and feared by your village, you try to find a reason for existing. There must be a reason to live…and the conclusion I came to was that the reason I must exist was to kill everyone else.

"Family…love…these words are completely meaningless. Fighting for only yourself, living while loving only yourself…if everyone else in the world exists only to allow you to experience those feelings, that is enough of a reason to live." He turned pupil-less teal eyes to Naruto. "That is why I will eventually kill you."

Naruto remained silent for all of five seconds before he burst out into laughter.

In reality, there was absolutely nothing funny about what Gaara had just said; in fact, it spoke of a rather tragic existence that the blonde knew his life didn't even compare to. But everything Gaara was saying was practically the same as the lessons Zetsu tried to impart upon him. The Suna-nin didn't care about strangers or friends or family…he fought for himself and only himself, killing people to verify his existence.

He was, essentially, Zetsu's perfect disciple.

Granted, the former Kusa-nin wasn't a mass murdering psychopath (cannibalism aside), but then again, Zetsu's philosophy had room for interpretation. Gaara's view of the people who inhabited the world around him was probably close enough to his tutor's that Naruto could imagine how the redhead would respond to whatever he said. He had just found a window of opportunity, and he had every intention of trying to take advantage of it.

Allowing his humor at the situation to abate, Naruto turned his blue eyes to meet Gaara's blank gaze. "Sorry," he apologized, "I just know someone who thinks a lot like you. I mean, I think a lot like you, too, though I've never killed someone." He paused at that, taking a moment to appreciate the irony of training to be an assassin while having no kills under his belt. At some point, he would have to cross that bridge, but for now, he had a different mission to complete. "So, are you gonna tell me about the invasion, or…?"

His only reply was a stream of sand that forced him to activate the Attack Prevention Technique. He moved through the building and emerged from the side, knowing that Gaara would have sand swirling around the location he had been occupying. "So I guess that's a 'no'!" he called. Waving to the Sand Genin, the blonde took off with a departing shout of, "You'll tell me eventually!"

-l-l-l-

"Tell me why I should not just kill you."

Naruto offered his fellow Jinchūriki a wry grin. "If you could, I'm pretty sure you woulda by now."

Gaara turned away from him at that, but made no sound to indicate the statement was untrue. Instead, he said, "You keep speaking of an invasion, but you have yet to show evidence supporting your claim."

"True," the blonde allowed, "except that I _know_ that Suna and Oto are planning to invade Konoha. I knew that you were a Jinchūriki, didn't I? You're probably the main part of the attack, right?"

The redhead was silent for a long time, and Naruto was content to stare at the sliver of a moon hanging in the sky before his companion intoned, "I am to release Shukaku in the middle of Konoha during the third phase of the Chūnin Exams."

Naruto wasn't sure whether to be more surprised at the fact that the Sand Genin had actually told him the plan, or that said plan was so simplistic. "Shukaku is –?"

"The Demon Sand Spirit sealed within me. It is the Kazekage's hope that the monster will kill enough of Konoha's forces to give Suna the advantage in battle."

"Why're you going along with this plan?"

"Orders."

"You've been killing assassins since you were six, and you don't care about anyone else," Naruto pointed out. "I hardly think you care about what you're ordered to do." When Gaara didn't immediately say anything, the blonde continued, "Besides, if you release Shukaku, is it really _you_ killing people?"

The redhead turned his teal eyes towards the other Jinchūriki. "You mean to dissuade me from partaking in the invasion."

Naruto shrugged. "By your own admission, you want to kill people to prove that you're alive. Not only that, but you said that you fight for yourself…and yet, you're prepared to sacrifice all these kills to the monster inside you on someone else's orders. How is any of that proving your existence?"

Gaara continued to stare at him. "I was under the impression that most Konoha-nin were weak-willed," intoned the redhead, "but you are different. More uncaring…tenacious. You are a monster like me, yet…why do you fight for those who despise you?"

The blonde shook his head. "I don't…I fight for myself. But if you destroy my home, where can I grow stronger?"

There was another stretch of silence, during which the two Jinchūriki merely stared at each other. Finally, Gaara asked, "What do you plan to do with the information I have provided you?"

Naruto shrugged again. "Nothin'. It's up to Konoha to defend itself against attacks…so long as it comes out mostly unscathed, whatever else happens, happens. I just wanted to remove the ace," he said, quoting Zetsu.

"You are cold…ruthless…and yet, you did not attempt to kill me," Gaara noted. "That would have been the most prudent way to 'remove the ace', as you say."

"I didn't know if I could…figured learnin' how you thought and tryin' to plan around the invasion was the better way to go."

"Intelligent…had you attacked me, you would have died."

It was said so matter-of-factly that Naruto had little doubt it was true, especially after almost being crushed by Gaara's sand for three weeks now. "So, what're you gonna do?"

Gaara turned away to stare once more at the moon. "Leave now," he commanded. "I look forward to facing you in a true life-and-death battle someday. When I crush you and absorb your blood, the victory will be much more satisfying."

Surprised at the easy dismissal, Naruto decided to heed his fellow Jinchūriki's order, and for the first time since they had met, the blonde left Gaara's company without an attempt on his life.

As he bound away, Naruto wondered where Gaara's change of heart had come from. If his departing words were any indication, the redhead still sought appeasement by the deaths of those around him, which meant that Naruto hadn't struck any chord with Gaara's inner humanity, assuming the Suna-nin actually had any. But that was fine…the blonde's intention hadn't been to rehabilitate his fellow Jinchūriki, merely to dissuade him from going along with the invasion plan.

And it was all to benefit himself, to continue to have an environment that he could safely build up his skills in.

Everything he was trying to achieve was for his own selfish purposes. The only reason he'd started talking to Gaara was to try and manipulate the boy into letting something slip. He didn't expect the Suna-nin to actively defend Konoha; he just wanted him to _not attack_ Konoha. It was fortunate, he supposed, that Gaara's ideology was rather similar to Zetsu's own, and thus to Naruto's own (though the Sand Genin had been immersed in it for far longer than he had), otherwise the blonde would've had no idea how to go about manipulating his fellow Jinchūriki for his own purposes.

Naruto paused in his movement and nearly palmed his forehead as the similarities between his situation with Gaara and Zetsu's situation with him struck home. He had done for the redhead exactly as his tutor had done for him. _I'm Gaara's Zetsu,_ he realized, equal parts amused and horrorstruck.

Wherever he was at the moment, Zetsu was probably laughing to himself at his ingenuity.

Granted, Gaara hadn't agreed to anything yet, but his lack of trying to kill the blonde spoke volumes. Despite his desire to kill all who confronted him, Gaara seemed to respect…something. Naruto wasn't sure what it was exactly, but he figured he possessed it, otherwise the redhead wouldn't find him worthy enough to listen to.

Was it strength? Given that he hadn't advanced through to the final round of the Chūnin Exams, Gaara's dismissal of him during their first meeting made sense; he hadn't been anyone worthy of note. Then again, he so far hadn't proven anything to the Suna-nin except that he was skilled enough to sink through the roof of a building to avoid being crushed by sand. That wasn't really strength; it was more strategy. He _could_ show Gaara his strength – or at least the abilities with senbon and poisons he'd developed up to this point – but if the redhead said that trying to attack him would've resulted in his death, Naruto had little reason to doubt him. Gaara was nothing if not candid.

So if it wasn't strength, what was it? What quality did he possess that Gaara found intriguing enough to listen to?

Naruto shook the thought from his head as he arrived at his apartment complex and worked his way up to his room. It was useless trying to think about it, and if Gaara was anything like Zetsu (which he was), he would be unlikely to say anything unless Naruto figured out the answer himself. And in the end, did it really matter what the answer was? So long as the result was what Naruto wanted it to be, Gaara's personal reasons for paying him any attention were inconsequential.

They weren't friends, they weren't comrades, they weren't even members of the same village. They were just two, selfish Jinchūriki fighting for their own beliefs.

Tomorrow, he would go back to Gaara – as he'd done for the past three weeks – and see where the redhead stood with his proposition. Naruto could only hope that his fellow Jinchūriki would see things his way.

-l-l-l-

**Author's Note:** I'll be honest, I'm not the biggest fan of Jiraiya. He's an excellent shinobi, but balancing that with his personality is…challenging. Gaara's a little easier because of his predictability, but only until he finds something that throws him off, like Naruto.

That said, thanks for all the feedback on the previous chapter, and if you have any questions, comments, concerns, etc. with this one, don't hesitate to let me know. Also, updates might slow down to once per month just so I can keep on top of things. Real life and all that jazz.


	8. Planning & Improvising

_When the best laid plans go awry, how do you come up with the next course of action?_

-l-l-l-

"So…tomorrow, huh?"

Gaara turned his gaze to the blonde, his expressionless visage clearly visible in the light of the almost full moon. "Yes."

Naruto fidgeted uncomfortably at his fellow Jinchūriki's teal eyes, his fingers twitching near one of the ceramic orbs hanging in its pouch. _Not yet, _he cautioned himself, _wait until you hafta_. "Are you…ready?" he asked, changing his real question at the last moment. Gaara's centrality in the impending invasion made him even more wary of the Suna-nin than usual, given that the third round of the Chūnin Exams was scheduled to take place the following day. Despite inquiring several times over the past week, Gaara had yet to give him a straight answer on what he was going to do – unsurprising, given the redhead's similarity to Zetsu – and Naruto was making one last attempt to see if the insane Sand Genin would give him any sort of inkling as to his intentions.

"Yes."

The redhead's monotone was beginning to irk Naruto. "Did you even train during the time off?"

"No." Then, instead of leaving the blonde hanging, Gaara continued, "What purpose is there in training when there's no one capable of matching your strength." Unspoken went the fact that training also served no purpose when your actual agenda involved relinquishing control of your body to the powerful demon you contained in order to destroy your enemies. Gaara didn't seem to care much about whether or not he'd be promoted to Chūnin.

Just one more similarity the two Jinchūriki shared.

"Fair enough." Finally deciding he had to know, Naruto ventured, "Do you know what you're doin' tomorrow?" Gaara's face remained impassive, and to fill the silence, the blonde continued, "Don't go through with it. You'll just prove that you're a tool of your village –"

"Shut up," Gaara ordered. Naruto's mouth snapped close of its own accord, blue eyes noticing that the foreign Jinchūriki was gripping his head with both hands, eyes closed to some inner demon. "Leave," he rasped, "or you'll die before I can enjoy crushing you on my own terms."

Naruto heeded the command and took off, hoping that Gaara would come to his senses and see things his way.

If nothing else, the blonde had his contingencies, the first of which involved staying far away from the arena tomorrow.

-l-l-l-

Naruto stood at his stove the next morning, his attention focused on the skillet before him. Grabbing the soy sauce from where he had placed it, the blonde added a careful stream to the pan, mixing it with the eggs and rice vinegar already sizzling over the fire.

Ramen was great and everything, and it would always remain his favorite food, but it was hard to grow physically when the noodles consisted of his only meal, morning, noon, and night. So, with no pressing business to attend to that morning, Naruto had decided to try his hand out at cooking an actual meal. Tamagoyaki seemed simple enough, though it was honestly a little too sweet for his tastes, which were used to the flavorful spices of ramen; thus, instead of sugar, he had opted into substituting soy sauce, which would give his meal a much saltier flavor.

So far it was turning out okay, though Naruto's worry about burning his breakfast had him keeping the burner at a low flame to not overcook the eggs.

As steam from the pan spiraled upward, the blonde thought about the manchineel gas he had yet to figure out a way to capture, the past several weeks having been devoted to a different project. Deciding there was no better time than the present, he created a clone – whom he handed his spatula over to, instructing the doppelganger to keep an eye on his omelet – and then held out his hands (with the tips of his thumbs, pointer, and middle fingers on one hand touching their fellows) high above the skillet, palms facing down.

Focusing intently, he gathered his chakra and sent it to his hands. Blue energy filled the void between his pointer fingers and thumbs, creating a roughly spade-shaped film of chakra. "Tea," he requested, eyes watching his chakra to make sure the construct was steady. His clone picked up the teacup next to the stove and brought it to his lips; the blonde downed the remaining half – his third cup so far – before allowing his copy to return to making breakfast.

With measured slowness, he began to pull his hands apart, allowing the film of chakra between them to stretch. It was strange to watch his chakra actually bend to his will – most of the time, he considered chakra an internal thing, and Jiraiya had told him that his large reserves would make finer chakra manipulations more difficult.

But Naruto was determined to succeed. If he could create the manchineel gas, there was no telling where he could go from there.

When his chakra covered roughly the same area as the skillet, he began to lower his hands. The steam from his breakfast hit the chakra barrier and began to spread out, seeking freedom from its captor. Frowning, Naruto began to manipulate his chakra so that it started to curl beneath his hands, forming a rim to keep the vapor beneath his net.

The task was more difficult than he thought. For one thing, his hands were covering his field of vision, so he couldn't really see if his chakra was reacting as he wanted it to. In addition, controlling chakra that wasn't actively touching some part of his body was a bit more difficult than that which he was in contact with (like using it for the tree- and water-walking exercises), and the blonde was already not the best at chakra control. Only the knowledge that he absolutely _needed_ this exercise to work for his ninja career to be successful kept him pushing through his aggravation, the tip of his tongue sticking out of his mouth as sweat poured down his face. To capture the manchineel gas, his chakra would have to be molded into some sort of container, so he pumped more chakra into the construct, trying to extend it down into what would eventually be a roughly cone-shaped vessel.

There was a loud rapping at his front door, and, thrown off by the sudden intrusion, all of his chakra dissipated into the air, followed quickly by the unfurling steam of his breakfast. "Damn it!" His head swiveled in the direction of the door. "Who the hell –?"

"Hey Naruto, open up!"

_Ino?_ he wondered. He hadn't even realized Ino knew where he lived, let alone that she would actually take the time out to visit…especially since she was going to be due at the stadium soon for the Chūnin Exams. More curious than upset that his potential breakthrough with collecting the manchineel gas had been disturbed, he walked to the door and opened it, revealing his fellow blonde in all her usual glory. "Took you long enough," she huffed.

"…Sure," he agreed, staring at her as if doing so would puzzle out why she was standing on his doorstep.

They pair stood in silence for several seconds before Ino arched an eyebrow and asked, "Aren't you going to invite me in?"

"…Sure," he repeated, still confused.

Ino stepped past the threshold and into his apartment, allowing him to close the door behind her. She sniffed the air and then questioned, almost incredulously, "Did you _cook?_"

"Uh, yeah," he managed, brain returning to some semblance of functional. Sitting on the counter was his tamagoyaki, courtesy of his clone, who had apparently taken it upon himself to finish preparing breakfast; another cup of steaming green tea was placed next to it. Naruto stared at the swirling vapor wistfully, hoping for another opportunity to try and trap it with his chakra. "So, uh, what're you doin' here?"

Ino's baby blue eyes – roving around the apartment – focused on him. "Oh, well, I wanted to thank you for training with me this past month. And for taking over my job so Dad could take some more time out to train with me. I really appreciate it."

"Ah… Well, you're welcome." When Ino didn't say anything else, Naruto prompted, "Well, if that's it, I've got some things to take care of, so good luck with your –"

"You're not coming down to watch my match?"

Naruto blinked in surprise. He hadn't expected Ino to care whether or not he was present in the arena as a spectator. Actually, he had been banking on the fact that, as a relatively disliked person, his lack of attendance at the Chūnin Exams would be appreciated more than showing up to root on his peers (which essentially amounted to just Team 10). Besides which, Gaara's agenda was still up in the air, and Naruto preferred being far away from the central location the invasion was going to take place at. "Well, no, but –"

"You have to come!"

"…I do?"

"Yes! I want you to be there!" There was a moment of silence following her admission, and it was clear that Ino was as surprised at saying the words as Naruto was to hear them. Ino pushed past it first, continuing in a rather fierce tone, "Friends are supposed to support one another."

Not for the first time, Naruto wished he had a prior friendship to ascertain whether the things Ino said were true or not. Then again, if it was this complicated to have a friend, perhaps it was better that he had no previous experience; friendships, despite their usefulness in certain areas (giving him a training partner, for instance), sounded like a pain to maintain.

He appreciated Ino, but he didn't know if that meant he should risk his life to oblige her desires.

The Yamanaka was fixing him with a look somewhere between glaring and pleading, and Naruto briefly cursed himself for his choice in a friend as hardheaded as he was. He observed her for a moment, trying to work through the enigma that was his fellow blonde. She was stubborn and spirited, intelligent but emotional, and she often said things without thinking about them. If he wanted to continue to use their friendship for his own purposes, it was better to acquiesce to the reasonable demands she made in order to keep her happy. Besides, as it stood right now, he wasn't necessarily in danger just by going to the stadium, and he always had his contingencies. "Fine," he relented, "I'll be there." _Way high up in the stands, so I can make a quick getaway if I hafta._

Ino embraced him and then pulled away quickly, mildly embarrassed. "Thanks…I'll be sure to do my best now that I know you'll be there."

It didn't make much sense to him that she would want to try harder just because he was there watching, but Naruto decided not to question it. Some things were probably best left unexplored.

Knowing that going to the arena unprepared was a bad idea, he walked over to his dresser and opened the topmost drawer. Throwing on his olive shirt over the grey one he was currently dressed in, he clasped the pouches at the bottom into place and slid the scroll containing his senbon and kunai into one of them. Blue eyes slanted over to the one ceramic jar that was separated from the rest, and he grabbed it and placed it within the leftmost pouch before closing the drawer.

Fully prepared for the challenges that lay ahead, the blonde slid his tamagoyaki to a paper plate, downed his cup of tea, and transferred several more leaves into a ceramic thermos. After pouring the still-hot water from his kettle into the thermos and capping it, he turned to Ino and gave her a wan smile. "Ready to go," he said, sliding his thermos into one of his pouches and grabbing the plate with his breakfast.

Ino returned his gesture with a more genuine one. "Time to kick some ass!"

-l-l-l-

In Naruto's opinion, the arena was way too large. It was circular in shape, hundreds of feet in diameter, and comprised of mostly dirt and short grass. Trees lined the outside, ringing the concrete wall and providing the only measure of protection in the otherwise open space. Three massive grandstands were built above the curvature of the wall, occupying about a third of the circumference.

They were so high above the ground that Naruto wasn't sure how anyone was supposed to get a good view of the fights that were to take place down below in the stadium. He was currently sitting cross-legged on the yellow roof of the far left grandstand, knowing that finding a seat where he wouldn't be hassled would've been near impossible. His fingers drummed a nervous beat against his thigh, right foot twitching spasmodically to an even faster rhythm.

He took another draught of tea and tried to focus on the figures down below.

While he didn't know all of the Genin, even from his height he could easily distinguish between the different groups. Team 10 was grouped at one end, followed by a girl with her hair tied up in buns, a long-haired brunette Naruto knew to be a male only because of the altercation outside room 301, and Rock Lee. Next to them were three shinobi in neutral colors Naruto guessed to be from the Hidden Sound, and separated from them by some distance was a teen in a black bodysuit, a dirty blonde wielding a fan, and Gaara.

The Suna-nin's head turned so he was looking in Naruto's general direction, causing the blonde's fidgeting to momentarily cease. _Can he sense me? Is that some power that Jinchūriki have that I haven't learned?_

Gaara turned away to listen to a taller figure addressing the Genin, and Naruto took a long sip of his beverage to try and soothe his nerves; it didn't work. No matter what happened, Gaara would probably always disturb him, he concluded as his fidgeting continued.

"The first match will be between Hyūga Neji of Konoha and Abumi Zaku of Oto," announced the proctor. "If everyone else will clear the field, we can get started." Naruto watched as everyone but the long-haired male on Lee's team and the Sound shinobi with spiky hair headed for a doorway built into the arena wall. When only the two combatants and the proctor remained, the latter held up his arm and then brought it down swiftly. "Begin!"

Naruto watched the Oto-nin bring both his arms forward, palms facing his opponent. From the way dust and dirt was kicked up in a straight line, the blonde guessed that Zaku was using some sort of air attack propelled from his palms to assault his opponent. Neji easily avoided the blast, prompting Zaku to increase the frequency of his attacks.

Either Neji was very talented or Zaku wasn't (or both), for the Leaf shinobi was making the Oto-nin look like an inept fool. The Hyūga was practically dancing around Zaku's air bursts, using a taijutsu form Naruto presumed to be part of his clan's attack style.

It irked Naruto just slightly to acknowledge that he really was quite ignorant of the specialties associated with Konoha's clans. Hinata had been in his class for years, but in all that time, he couldn't remember ever seeing how she fought. Then again, considering how caught up in hating Sasuke and idolizing Sakura he had been, the fact that he'd never paid attention to his classmates wasn't overly surprising; still, it was annoying. How much could he have learned about the Hyūga, or the Yamanaka, or the Nara, just by associating a little more with Hinata or Ino or Shikamaru? Would Team 10's abilities and camaraderie be less confusing if he had even had the smallest inkling of how they fought ahead of time?

The next blast Zaku pushed out seemed to double in size, and Neji spun himself around, producing a dome of blue chakra that repelled the assault. When it tapered off, the Hyūga sped forward with an open palm aimed at the Oto-nin's shoulder.

Neji's movements made even Ino look clumsy by comparison. For as much as she used her legs for the Yamanaka fighting style, Neji's arms speared around in seemingly random patterns that struck Zaku with what appeared to be rather ineffective hits. The Oto-nin tried to maneuver one arm to blast the Leaf Genin away from him, but as he did so, Neji's palm came up and hit it.

Zaku's arm exploded in a shower of blood, separated from his body at the elbow.

_Ouch,_ Naruto thought as Zaku released a pained holler, _that's gotta hurt._ The Oto-nin was cut off when Neji delivered the final blow, Zaku collapsing in a broken heap. Neji was pronounced the winner after a moment, and the proctor announced the next match between Tenten of Konoha and Kankurō of Suna as medics came in and transported Zaku away on a stretcher.

Neji was a talented shinobi, Naruto mused as the bun-haired kunoichi and the Suna-nin dressed in black appeared in the arena. He was strong and composed, good qualities for a shinobi to have, and Naruto thought that he could tolerate someone indifferent enough to blow off his opponent's limb without flinching.

Refocusing his attention to the arena, Naruto watched with interest as Kankurō dropped the bandaged bundle he was carrying on his back and Tenten drew out several kunai, launching them at her opponent. Kankurō dodged, but the Leaf kunoichi immediately began to shower him with a hail of metal.

The continued use of standard weaponry intrigued Naruto, and he leaned forward slightly, taking another sip of tea as he observed the fight. Tenten's lack of surname implied that she wasn't a member of any of Konoha's major clans, which meant that her abilities didn't rely on any specialized techniques. That – combined with the way she was now using kunai to knock down Kankurō's own thrown weapons before they reached her – hinted at a self-taught proficiency with projectiles.

Exactly what he was trying to specialize in.

She was the type of person Naruto had been looking for since resolving himself to becoming a master at throwing poison-coated senbon – someone he had no prior relationship with who could help him improve his style. Wheedling assistance from Iruka had always been a possibility, but the teacher was more likely to ask questions and get too attached, something Naruto didn't want. It was better to appeal to a peer and potentially stroke her ego to get the training he desired. Manipulation was key to being a good shinobi.

Tenten jumped into the air with two scrolls twirling about her form, hands swiping along the parchment and unsealing weapons from within with just a touch. Kunai, shuriken, and senbon barraged the area Kankurō was standing in, and Naruto was surprised when, instead of dodging, the Suna-nin dove forward into the hail of weaponry. Metal impaled itself into his form, but he kept moving forward, unleashing several smoke bombs to conceal his attack. When the smoke cleared, Tenten could be seen lying unconscious on the ground, her scrolls collapsed beside her.

Naruto took another drink of tea as the proctor announced Kankurō the winner, trying to figure out what had happened. It didn't look like Kankurō was bleeding – strange, since he had been pierced by plenty of weapons – nor was there an explanation for why Tenten was out cold. Was Kankurō also a poison-user who had hit the Leaf kunoichi with some sort of knockout gas or liquid? But that didn't explain why he was unharmed from Tenten's assault…

He shook his head as medics came and placed Tenten on a stretcher, carting her off. There was no point in aimlessly guessing about what had happened, especially since he had no idea what Kankurō's abilities were. Maybe Tenten would be willing to give him some insight when he went to talk to her.

Whenever _that_ was going to be…first he had to survive the impending invasion. So did she, now that he thought about it.

If anything, the fight had been a good indication that his specialty had weaknesses. Not that he knew what all of them were – honestly, how _had_ Kankurō managed to remain unscathed from all that weaponry? – but it was better to discover them now than in the field, when his life would depend on it.

Wind was another counter he would have to be wary of, if the fan-user blowing away Shikamaru's kunai was any indication. Actually, now that he thought about it, most elemental techniques would probably pose a problem in open combat. Jiraiya had given him a basic rundown of the different affinities after he had followed Zetsu's urging and asked about his own – Wind Release, which…he guessed was good; apparently it was rare in the Land of Fire – and all of them could easily counter his chosen specialty.

So he assumed, anyway. Jiraiya hadn't actually had time to go into specifics about the abilities of each element (having been called away for something), and the blonde hadn't wanted to ask Zetsu, who seemed to only give the least useful answer to any question.

But observation was a powerful tool. Gusts of wind could be used to repel projectile weapons, and judging by the Great Fireball Technique Sasuke had used back in the Land of Waves, fire could be used similarly. Earth's defensive prowess was obvious – though Naruto figured that if an opponent used a wall, he could just use the Attack Prevention Technique to move through it for a surprise attack – and water would be difficult for both him and his weaponry to move through. He wasn't sure what lightning could do, but even still, weakness to four out of five of the primary elements wasn't a good sign.

It made the manchineel gas all the more valuable for his future endeavors.

His oath to focus on capturing the gas was interrupted by the announcement of the winner of the match below. Returning his attention to the goings-on at hand, he noticed that a length of darkness connected Shikamaru to his similarly-posed opponent. _Shikamaru's __**Kagemane**__, probably, _he noted, though he was slightly confused as to why the girl was being awarded the victory. Perhaps Shikamaru, in his perpetual laziness, had opted into forfeiting?

But then what was the entire point of catching her in his shadow in the first place?

Naruto sighed quietly. More contradictions…it was all he seemed to stumble across nowadays, with lessons from Zetsu running rampant through his mind. He honestly feared for the day when he woke up and started talking in circles to himself.

Speaking of people who talked to themselves, Gaara was making his way into the arena, the slouched Oto-nin walking not far behind him. After several moments, the proctor announced for the match to begin, and as the Oto-nin rushed forward, his left hand holding back the sleeve of his right arm, sand flowed out of the gourd on Gaara's back.

Having only ever witnessed the sand attempting to crush him, Naruto was intrigued to see Gaara form a wall of silica in front of the other Genin. When the Oto-nin slammed his fist against the barrier, Gaara's defense proved immovable, and the Sound shinobi jumped backwards to avoid a hand of sand that shot out of the wall.

_So that's what he meant,_ Naruto mused, watching the Oto-nin bound around the arena to escape the clutches of Gaara's sand. The blonde had guessed that his fellow Jinchūriki's sand could be used defensively as well as offensively – as sand was merely an offshoot of earth – but to actually bear witness to it was rather informative. It explained why the Sand shinobi had never felt threatened by his presence, and why he had been so confident that, had Naruto attacked, he would have been killed. His poisoned senbon would've never made it through the barrier that Gaara's sand could've formed.

_Good thing I decided to get more info first._ Acting rashly without knowing Gaara's abilities ahead of time would've gotten him killed; his appreciation for gathering intelligence went up, as did his respect for Zetsu, who had discovered the information about the invasion.

And now, he considered, fingers tapping against the jar hanging in its clasp, foreknowledge of what Gaara could do would save his life.

The Oto-nin wasn't so lucky. Gaara's sand finally caught him, slithering up his body and wrapping him in a tan cocoon. Naruto forced himself to watch what came next, knowing that under different circumstances, it could've been him trapped within the crazed Jinchūriki's clutches. Slowly, the redhead extended his right arm and then clenched his fist. The sand encasing the Sound shinobi contracted, and Naruto could see a red discoloration seeping out of the silica bindings.

It was gruesome and coldblooded, but the blonde was aware that it was the one thing Gaara thirsted for above all else. He could understand that mentality, the desire to do anything just to garner some semblance of recognition; it was, after all, how his old self had lived his life. Granted, Gaara wasn't killing others for the attention, but Naruto knew that when you found something to cling to, fulfilling that goal was all that mattered, no matter how depraved it was.

Naruto waited for Gaara to be announced the winner, but it never came. Instead, the proctor appeared to hunker down into a defensive posture as a tall man and then Gaara's teammates leaped out onto the field. From the corner of his eye, the blonde saw a great purple barrier rise up to engulf the box the Kages were sitting in. _Is this it?_ He downed the rest of his tea in several quick mouthfuls and stuffed the thermos into a free pouch. _Has the invasion started?_

Beneath him, the distant sound of kunai clashing echoed out, but he ignored it in favor of keeping his attention focused upon his fellow Jinchūriki. Gaara appeared to be standing opposite his teammates, arms crossed over his chest, while the taller Suna-nin had engaged the proctor in battle. There were several seconds of nothing, and then the Sand Genin turned his head slightly, and Naruto could practically feel the heaviness of his dispassionate, teal-eyed gaze settle on him.

Even as far away as he was, Naruto knew that Gaara's stare promised his eventual death…but he felt that there was something else silently being communicated in that look. The redhead's gaze continued to remain where it was, even as his teammates began to gesture wildly. Sensing that the Suna-nin wanted to speak with him, Naruto hesitated, weighing his options.

The invasion had clearly started, but Gaara had yet to morph into Shukaku. It gave Naruto hope that the foreign Jinchūriki had actually abided by their discussion. But just because the redhead was still in his human form didn't mean that Naruto was safe approaching him. Despite Gaara's candor over the past month, the boy was still a ninja, and it was entirely possible that he was simply waiting for him to get close enough to crush him; after all, Gaara had said that he wanted to kill him with his own hands. What if he was waiting to accomplish that goal before deciding to follow through with the Kazekage's orders?

_I guess it's only fair to hear him out,_ he thought with a sigh. _He's had to listen to me for the past month, after all._ Throwing caution to the wind – and labeling himself as crazy for even coming to the Chūnin Exams in the first place – he stood up and made his way to the edge of the roof, using chakra to climb from there to the pillar holding up the stands. In a minute, he was in the arena and approaching Gaara and his teammates, chakra flowing along his body to activate the Attack Prevention Technique, should it be required.

Gaara's teammates turned around and adjusted their weapons as he neared, but the redhead intoned, "Stop…his death belongs to me." The other two Suna-nin exchanged brief, fearful glances before backing down, moving behind their teammate to give him space.

Naruto and Gaara stared at each other for a long moment before the former said, "Killing me won't be easy."

"No," Gaara agreed, "it will not." His head moved to gaze into the stands, where Leaf shinobi were fending off invaders from Sand and Sound. "But now isn't your time."

Naruto guessed that was supposed to be comforting, though he remained guarded. "So…you decided…?"

"I am not an instrument of my father."

That, the blonde decided, was probably Gaara stating that he had no intention of partaking in the invasion. The Sand kunoichi apparently guessed the same thing, for she immediately protested, "Gaara! You can't just –!"

"I can do as I wish, Temari…I am no one's tool." His teal eyes shifted to look at her. "You can try to stop me, if you desire –" sand swirled about his feet like a cat stropping his ankle, "— but your life will be forfeit."

Neither of Gaara's teammates said or did anything upon hearing his threat, a decision Naruto considered wise. He tensed slightly when Gaara's gaze returned to him, then coughed to cover it up and admitted, "I didn't think you'd follow through."

"I was watching you during the matches," Gaara intoned, and an involuntary shudder ran down Naruto's spine; said in that emotionless voice, Gaara sounded like nothing short of a psychotic stalker. "You had no reaction to who won or lost, or the blood shed during the fights. You truly are like me…cold, uncaring…interested in only yourself. If you need a place to grow stronger, so be it. I look forward to a true battle between us…monster versus monster. Your death will be much more satisfying if you struggle."

"Uh…thanks." _I guess…_

It was convenient that Gaara had acquiesced to his wishes, but Naruto wasn't naïve enough to trust his future to the insubordinate, psychotic Suna-nin; self-reliance dictated he depend on only himself. Gaara had betrayed his father's planned betrayal, and now Naruto would do the same thing.

Hidden from view by his sleeves, his fingers deftly unclipped the clasp holding his lone ceramic jar in place; it rolled into his hand, and with a quick lob, shattered on the ground. Pale yellow smoke engulfed the immediate area, and when it cleared several moments later, Gaara and his two teammates were sprawled on the ground, asleep.

Naruto smiled at his accomplishment, a feeling of pride stealing over him. The contents of his now-broken ceramic had been a mixture of lavender (pilfered from Yamanaka Flowers) and hop (gathered by a strangely eager White Zetsu in the Land of Woods upon Naruto's request), plants which possessed sleep-inducing qualities. After placing them in the jar and then corking it, he had heated the contents into a gas, assuming that even if Gaara's sand could stop physical attacks, he'd still be vulnerable to something as intangible as vapor.

The blonde flexed his hand, noting that his antidote had also worn off. His fingers no longer twitched from the increased tea intake, the caffeine coursing through his system having neutralized the lethargic properties of the sleep bomb.

Zetsu had been right; nature truly was a worthwhile friend or a harsh foe, depending on how it was used.

It was yet another good reminder that knowing how to counteract each of his poisons was vital. _Tea,_ he thought, amused, _who woulda thought? Zetsu's a freaking genius._

He looked around at the various clashes occurring in the grandstands, blue eyes coming to focus on Gaara's prone form. If there was one thing Naruto knew, it was that being around when Gaara did eventually come to was a _bad_ idea. The less he hung around the arena, the better.

_I'm outta here._

-l-l-l-

Naruto looked out over the crowd of people gathered below him, expression pensive. Like him, they were dressed all in black, although their heads were hung in mourning.

The blonde was positioned on a building with a good vantage point of the memorial dedicated to the departed Third Hokage. Konoha's leader had apparently sacrificed his life to protect the village during the invasion the previous day, and it seemed that the entire village had turned out to show its respect. For his own part, Naruto wasn't sure how to feel. The Third had certainly been an important part of his life for a number of years, though his connection with the elderly man had degraded over time. If nothing else, the Third's sacrifice merely proved that his decision to not become Hokage had been the correct one; the Will of Fire only led to an early demise.

More troubling than that, though, were the words his fellow Jinchūriki had imparted upon him right before being rendered unconscious. Was it true that he was really as cold and detached as _Gaara?_ Yes, he had left the stadium as soon as the major threat had been neutralized in order to preserve his own life, but that was simply the main tenet of self-reliance. He was a mere Genin…what could he possibly do against an invading force comprised of what was certainly Chūnin and Jōnin?

"Naruto-kun, there you are!"

The Jinchūriki turned his head slightly at the voice. "Hey Zet…su?"

White Zetsu's head tilted at the blonde's hesitation. "Is there something wrong, Naruto-kun?"

"You, uh…" he gestured vaguely at the right side of his own face, almost hopeful that the plant-man would take the hint. Where Black Zetsu's unblinking yellow eye normally sat was instead snow white skin, though still missing all the usual facial features of the plant-man's dark side; in fact, the entire right side of Zetsu's body was pure white. When Zetsu continued to look honestly perplexed, Naruto finally managed, "What happened to Black Zetsu?"

"Oh!" nodded the former Kusa-nin in understanding. "He doesn't like coming to funerals. It makes him hungry."

Naruto decided he didn't want to delve any deeper into that topic, finding the lack of Zetsu's snarkier half somewhat of a relief with the turmoil his thoughts were in. The white growth that was currently filling in for Zetsu's darker side made his tutor look marginally more human (or at least far less inhuman, especially since the Venus Fly Trap that normally encased his head had disappeared), and at the current time, he thought that speaking to the more simplistic White Zetsu would offer him more comfort than listening to Black Zetsu berate him for his foolishness. Curious to see what his tutor's childish side would say, he asked, "Have you been to a lotta funerals, Zetsu?"

"Mmm…" pondered the plant-man, a disturbingly thoughtful expression on his face, "not recently. After the war there were a lot of funerals, but since then…well, there's no one to miss." He cocked his head to the side. "Are you sad, Naruto-kun?"

"…No," replied the blonde, a frown twisting his features, "but I feel like I should be. Is that weird?"

"Nope!" White Zetsu chirped. "When you live for yourself, you don't care about how others make you feel."

Naruto considered the former Kusa-nin's words, turning them over in his mind. It was true that he didn't particularly care what other people thought of him, having left that aspect of his personality behind with his orange jumpsuit, but did that imply that he had no feelings for others?

Gaara's words returned to him, describing him as uncaring and aloof, insensitive to the suffering of others. He had his friendship with Ino and the rest of Team 10, but in a way, those connections were simply manipulations meant to further along his own abilities. Even his relationship with Zetsu was a form of partnership that benefited him more than the plant-man. It was almost like he was using Zetsu simply for his knowledge and resources; after all, finding someone willing to train him had been his primary goal right before meeting Zetsu.

Unless…was Zetsu manipulating him?

Naruto wouldn't put it past his tutor to do so, though he didn't see how or why. Most of Zetsu's teachings focused on forcing Naruto to think for himself and learn from his own experiences, thereby removing the idea that the plant-man was influencing him directly. It was hard to believe that Zetsu would even have a reason for manipulating him, but then again, he also didn't have too much of a reason to stick around Konoha, and yet here he was.

Not that it really mattered. Naruto would take whatever tutelage he could get while it was still being offered, regardless of his tutor's intentions. The ends justified the means, just as they had when dealing with Gaara.

Naruto shook his head in an effort to return his attention to the matter at hand. The loss of the Third Hokage was certainly a tragedy, and yet, the blonde felt little for the man who had once been a grandfatherly figure to him. Had he taken to Zetsu's lessons so well that he actually didn't care about anyone else? Would he feel nothing if Ino died? Was he truly like Gaara?

He voiced this thought aloud. "Gaara said that he and I were alike…do you think that's true?"

"Of course!" Naruto tried not to be offended at how quickly and surely White Zetsu responded, but the plant-man continued, "You're both Jinchūriki!"

Naruto stared at his companion for a moment before remembering that White Zetsu only looked at the surface of things. The plant-man had never met Gaara, only hearing about him from what Naruto had told him, and so he would have no idea what the blonde was referring to with his question. Black Zetsu would have a better idea, but then again, his response would involve testily telling Naruto to either draw his own conclusion or that his opinion didn't matter, only Naruto's perception of himself did.

Looking at the evidence – which was that he really only associated with a handful of people – Naruto was forced to conclude that, yes, he really was similar to Gaara (although less insane). He only cared about his own goals, and would utilize whatever methods were required to achieve those ends. Konoha was nothing more than a place for him to grow stronger, its shinobi people to hone his skills against.

Gaara regarded humanity as a person might a possession; once it had served its purpose, it would be killed or discarded. Naruto wanted to use humanity for his personal gain and then just ignore it. Playthings or tools…interest versus apathy.

There it was – the diversity he was looking for. Feeling better now that he had even marginally differentiated himself from Gaara, Naruto rose to his feet and faced his tutor. The Chūnin Exams were over and the Third Hokage was dead, but life would go on. Everything he needed to become the shinobi he wanted to be was still within his grasp – plants, senbon, jars, Zetsu, Ino…and now, Tenten. "Let's go," he told the plant-man, "I've got things to do."

With the threat Gaara had posed gone, it was time to catch up on his training.

-l-l-l-

**Author's Note:** I'm operating under the assumption that being asleep merely allows Shukaku to eat away at Gaara's personality, and that Shukaku can only take control if Gaara chooses to/summons its form. As for why Naruto didn't just use the bomb in the first place: he wasn't exactly sure it would have the desired effect. Thus, when Gaara said he wasn't going to attack, Naruto felt he had nothing to lose; he had an escape plan and he understood Gaara's mindset, so he experimented.

That said, thanks to everyone for the reviews last chapter, and let me know what you think about this one. For future reference, I am going to try to update on the first of the month.


	9. Assistance & Hindrance

_Whom do you turn to for guidance when you need it, and whose aid is more harmful than helpful?_

-l-l-l-

"Jiraiya-sensei," Naruto frowned, looking around at their surroundings, "how come we're out here today?"

"Hm? Don't you trust me, kid?"

_Not really._ If there was one lesson Naruto could take away from the recent invasion, it was that, while faith and hope had their places, trust was something he had some difficulty putting stock in. Suna had betrayed Konoha, Gaara had betrayed Suna, and he had betrayed Gaara; trust was hard to build and easy to break. "Of course! It's just…this place is so…open. What's wrong with our normal training spot?"

"It's not big enough for what I have planned," the Sannin responded, looking around furtively. Naruto wondered if he was waiting for someone to appear…or rather, hoping that someone _didn't_ appear. "Alright, kid, enough questions, let's get down to business." He bit his thumb, smeared the blood that bubbled up along his opposite palm, and went through a series of seals before slamming his open hand upon the ground. A large blue- and orange-colored toad appeared in a burst of smoke, a rather sizeable scroll held in its mouth. "That," Jiraiya stated somewhat smugly, "is the _**Kuchiyose no Jutsu**_. And this is the Summoning Contract for the toads," he continued, gesturing towards the scroll. "All you have to do is write your name and put your fingerprints in blood, and then you'll be able to join the privileged few capable of summoning toads."

Naruto figured that he was supposed to act impressed or awed or something, but it was hard to focus on the right expression to display when he was inwardly laughing at the irony. Zetsu had been right…_again_. Granted, Jiraiya was probably offering him the Summoning Contract as part of his training rather than as a way to keep tabs on him, but the blonde wasn't so stupid as to think the latter wasn't true in some sense. The Sannin had heard everything said during his meeting with the Sandaime, and if someone had seen him speaking with Gaara either during the invasion or in the month leading up to it, Konoha was sure to be mildly suspicious of his behavior. It was better to be safe than sorry.

He had to reject Jiraiya's offer without throwing himself under even further scrutiny. "Wow, Jiraiya-sensei, that's pretty cool, but –" he frowned again, looking thoughtful, "…I dunno if I wanna learn _**Kuchiyose no Jutsu**_."

"_What?_ Kid, do you know what you're saying? Do you know how many people would kill for the opportunity to follow in the great Gama Sennin Jiraiya's footsteps?" he asked incredulously, striking a ridiculous pose.

"Uh…" Naruto scratched the side of his head in pretend-thought, "a lot?"

"Damn straight," Jiraiya snorted, crossing his arms. He sobered up in the next moment. "You sure about this, kid? Summons are damn useful, and the toads are some of the best."

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, I'm sure. It's not really about strength, it's just…well, I wanna become a _real_ ninja, and that –" he gestured to the toad Jiraiya was standing on, "— isn't really subtle."

The toad disappeared in a cloud of smoke, allowing the Sannin to alight on his feet. "A real ninja, huh?" Jiraiya repeated, face unusually serious. "Tell me, kid, do you have any idea what that means?"

Jiraiya's abrupt personality change warned Naruto that he had wandered into a potentially sensitive topic. He would have to tread carefully with how he responded to the Sannin. "Well," he pondered, "I think a real ninja is someone who hides in the shadows and strikes when the time is right. So learnin' skills that help to do that is important."

The brief silence that followed caused Jiraiya to raise a skeptical eyebrow. "Is that it?"

"Um, I think so." He peered at his teacher curiously. "Did I forget something?"

Jiraiya exhaled a breath that Naruto hoped was a sigh of relief. "Well, if you want to get technical, a _real _ninja is one who follows all the rules taught in the Academy. But the rules are just guidelines; shinobi learn to develop their own skills and beliefs through their experiences in the field."

_Knew that already,_ Naruto thought, thanking Zetsu for the insight he had imparted months ago. At least Jiraiya wasn't advocating for the Will of Fire…not yet, anyway.

"Some of the rules are crap, anyway," the white-haired man continued. "It's more important to find your own path in life. Above all else, ninja are people, and each individual's decisions shape his or her own life. Some focus on physical strength, some on strategy, or espionage –"

"Jiraiya, we need to speak with you."

"And some are annoying as all hell," the Sannin muttered, turning to the intruders. One was a short male with neatly-maintained spiky grey hair and a beard, black eyes peering at Jiraiya from behind green-rimmed glasses. His associate was a grey-haired woman only a couple inches taller than Naruto, her hair curled into a bun atop her head. Both were dressed in formalwear that Naruto supposed meant they held positions of authority, and he wondered if it was these two that his teacher had been so desirous to avoid. Pasting a somewhat sickly smile on his face, Jiraiya greeted, "Homura-sensei, Koharu-sensei…what brings you to my humble training spot?"

Homura lowered his head slightly to fix the Sannin with a stern look over the rim of his glasses. "Don't pretend that you haven't been avoiding us, Jiraiya. We weren't born yesterday."

"Clearly," Jiraiya coughed. The edges of Homura's mouth creased downwards, making his seemingly-permanent frown appear even more disapproving.

Koharu cleared her throat. "It is imperative that we speak with you, Jiraiya." She glanced over at Naruto, who was observing the interaction between his teacher and the two councilors silently. "Alone."

"Fine." The Toad Sannin turned to face his pupil. "Scram, kid. I'll catch up with you later."

Deciding that it was probably better to obey – and silently grateful for the opportunity to escape – Naruto nodded and left, sparing no attention to the furrowed brow of his white-haired teacher. Whatever the two elders wanted to discuss with Jiraiya was no business of his.

-l-l-l-

With his training with Jiraiya postponed and Zetsu's warning to not draw undue attention to himself (meaning that he shouldn't go hunting for the plant-man for Zetsu's equivalent of training) in mind, Naruto found himself wandering towards Yamanaka Flowers. Hands laced behind his head, the blonde watched dispassionately as the Hidden Leaf's denizens – both civilians and shinobi alike – worked together to repair the damage caused by the Sand/Sound invasion.

He wasn't entirely sure how to feel about what such cooperation said about society. If members of Konoha truly believed in the Will of Fire, the blonde couldn't really say he was all that surprised at the willingness of people to help one another out. In fact, now that he thought about it, society was all about working together and relying on others in order to survive. Businesspeople relied on customers in order to earn money for their livelihood; products were grown or crafted by farmers or artisans, providing necessities and comforts for pleasant living, and then sold to the populace by some third party, if not the grower or crafter himself. The entire world was one big, dependent system, requiring others to function properly.

Except for Zetsu.

The plant-man was the one component in the system that didn't belong (didn't _need_ to belong, really) and wasn't necessary for its operation, and Naruto found that he envied his tutor's freedom. Self-sufficiency was a far-reaching, though attainable goal, and the thought of one day achieving it allowed the blonde to justify to himself everything he did in and for Konoha. When he was eventually allowed to partake in missions again, it wouldn't be for the Hidden Leaf, but for his future.

Watching a Chūnin assist an elderly craftswoman remove debris from her shop, the Jinchūriki tried to envision the scene from his philosophy's perspective. If people worked only for themselves, then the old women would have no way to restore her livelihood to workable condition, as the Chūnin wouldn't perform labor without being compensated. Would the Konoha-nin assist the older woman if he wasn't earning money to do so? Was he in fact helping her out of the goodness of his heart?

Naruto shook his head. Hypotheticals were difficult to answer without falling prey to the personal biases he held in his heart, even when trying to examine things neutrally. It was far easier to experience the situation himself and _then_ see which perspective he agreed with. The evidence of people's goodness made him…not necessarily sick, but uncomfortable. He wasn't sure if it was the knowledge that his own philosophy focused on self-reliance (and the hypocrisy of how to reach that point) or the fact that, as one who had been in need, Konoha's citizens hadn't reached out to help him (thus outing themselves as hypocrites).

Simply knowing that he had probably saved a lot of lives by removing Gaara from the invasion caused him to scowl. What did their lives mean to him? Had he really made the right decision by manipulating his fellow Jinchūriki to not attack Konoha? Every decision had its consequences, and the repercussions of his made him think that perhaps he could've found a better solution.

It was the price he paid for not fully considering the extent of his actions.

"Hey, Naruto! Help me out, will you?"

Pulled from his thoughts, he looked over to find Ino carrying a tray of potted flowers outside her family's shop, several more trays already placed out front. Walking over, he could see that the shop had sustained burn damage to the outside, turning most of the flowers in the displayed trellises into ash; much of the wood paneling needed to be replaced, and a stack of fresh planks was already leaning up against the undamaged part of the storefront.

Ino greeted him with a grateful look after he walked into the shop, grabbed the nearest tray, and brought it outside. "Thanks," she said. "Everything we needed to repair the shop just came in, so Dad and I are working hard to fix it up…well," she amended, "Dad'll be back soon enough." When he didn't immediately reply, her brow furrowed and she asked, "Are you okay?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah…just thinkin' about all the damage Konoha took."

Half-truths, he thought, were far more believable than outright lies. It would be impossible – not to mention stupid – to tell Ino that he now felt like a complete hypocrite, granting aid to someone else without any sort of benefit to himself. Not that Ino and Inoichi couldn't fix up the place by themselves, but if being coerced into going to the Chūnin Exams had taught him anything, it was that friendship required some measure of self-sacrifice.

Then again, he considered as he picked up a tray of violets, perhaps that wasn't the right way to think about what he was doing. If self-reliance was the philosophy he lived by, then self-interest could be considered an associate of that. By that logic, he could justify helping repair Yamanaka Flowers as quickening the time he could return to work to earn money, not to mention allowing him access to the wolf's bane he wanted to experiment with.

When he went back outside, Ino nodded in understanding. "Yeah, I guess we did get hit pretty hard. And with the Sandaime…" she took a deep breath and shook her head to clear it of the thought. "I didn't see you at the memorial service."

"I went earlier," Naruto explained. "Kinda said my own goodbye."

"I guess you and the Sandaime had a special relationship, huh?"

Naruto shrugged. "You could say that." _We used to…before I met Zetsu, anyway._ Somehow, half-truths and noncommittal answers were becoming a more natural thing to resort to, especially as people trod closer to topics he wanted to stay away from.

"You know," Ino began, picking up a hand trowel and digging out the scorched plants, "you're a lot different than you used to be."

"You've said that before," Naruto pointed out, ripping open a bag of dirt and waiting until Ino told him he could refill the planters.

"I know, I know, but that was before we became friends. Now that we've known each other for a couple months, well, I guess it's become really noticeable." She gestured to the newly-made hole in the trellis, prompting her fellow blonde to fill it. "You used to be so loud and obnoxious, but now…well, look at you!"

Naruto complied, looking down at himself and then giving the Yamanaka a questioning look. "Yeah?"

Ino let out a long-suffering sigh, as if she couldn't believe she had to point out the obvious. "You learned something about fashion sense, for one thing! Face it, Naruto, orange was never a sensible color. But that's not all of it," she continued, dislodging a violet from its container and placing it in the soil. "You stopped trying to earn the attention of everyone around you, stopped pulling pranks, and you don't really hang out with anyone except me. Your apartment's practically empty…it's like you don't care about anything." She finished patting down the soil around the flower and shot him a sly glance. "As good an idea as it is, there's more ways to get a girl to like you other than turning into Sasuke."

Naruto gaped at her. "I'm _nothing_ like Sasuke!" he protested indignantly.

She snorted, stuck the trowel in the planter, and turned to face him fully, hand on her hip. "Sorry, you're right…in fact," she continued, biting her lip slightly in a show of nervousness, "now that I've gotten used to this new you, you're really…cool." Sashaying her hips slightly, she took a step toward him. "Maybe, if you wanted to, we could…go out sometime?" She fluttered her eyelashes to add to the effect.

Her fellow blonde backed up a pace, nearly tripping over a bag of fertilizer. "I-Ino, cut it out!"

Ino laughed, dropping the act and returning to her chore. "You should see your face. Priceless! Still," she added after a moment of silence, "there could be worse people to emulate than Sasuke."

Naruto huffed and crossed his arms, sulking at the comparison. "S'not funny…'m not like that bastard," he muttered.

Admitting his similarity to Gaara had been difficult, if only because the Sand Jinchūriki was both psychopathic and sociopathic (and because, on some level, Naruto knew that he and his fellow demon container were alike). But to be compared to Uchiha Sasuke, the classmate he had strived for years to be better than, and who he had eventually written off as inconsequential to his own end, was a bitter pill to swallow.

However, Ino's statements tended to contain large kernels of truth; it was one of the reasons Naruto liked listening to what she had to say. Objectively looking through his more recent decisions and actions and comparing them to the personality Sasuke had displayed during both their time on Team 7 and in the Academy, the blonde was forced to admit that there were some similarities. Like Sasuke, he now preferred working alone to working with others, though he wasn't so arrogant as to believe himself greater than his peers. It didn't help his case that embracing Zetsu's philosophy meant ostracizing himself even further from a society which already treated him with scorn and distaste.

Viewed from that angle, it wasn't so much his personality that made him comparable to Sasuke, but his attitude towards society. Despite how much realizing their likeness burned, Naruto comforted himself with this thought, having decided that society's opinion of him didn't matter courtesy of his discussion with White Zetsu. Still, to think that he'd transformed to such a degree that his only friend (and at least he had _one_; how many did Sasuke have?) would point out he'd turned into a person he couldn't stand…

That was a mighty fall. Or perhaps it was an ascension, depending on how one looked at it.

As the blonde was contemplating how to classify his metamorphosis, his gaze fell upon an odd sight.

Rounding the corner were two figures in green jumpsuits, walking through the streets on their hands. The smaller one was the boy he recognized as Tenten's teammate from the Chūnin Exams, Rock Lee; the other male was probably his teacher…though father wouldn't have been a far guess for how similar they looked.

_Finally!_ he thought, blue eyes tracking them as they passed by the flower shop. Despite his resolve the previous day to find Tenten and learn any tricks she had, Konoha was a large place, and randomly searching the training grounds for her had so far been a fruitless endeavor. Coming across her teammate and teacher – and better yet, _following _them – was just the breakthrough he'd been hoping for.

Turning to Ino, he proclaimed, "I'll show you that I'm not like Sasuke. Unlike him, _I_ can make new friends." _Well…friend, anyway,_ he corrected mentally. With that, he bounded around the clutter strewn outside Yamanaka Flowers and began to trail the duo in green.

As he left, he heard Ino shriek, "Sasuke would never leave a woman in need! _Get back here, Naruto!_"

-l-l-l-

Naruto wasn't sure whether Lee and his teacher actually knew he was following them or not – the _**Shinra Banshō**_, as amazing as it was, didn't lend well to tracking when the user possessed no sensing abilities – but if they did, they certainly didn't seem to mind his presence. Judging by their training regimen, Naruto considered them…eccentric. It was a nicer way to say they were crazy without placing them on the same level as someone truly insane, like Gaara. Jiraiya had explained that the longer a ninja lived, the more prone he or she was to develop strange quirks.

After having Zetsu as a tutor, Naruto couldn't find it in himself to disagree with such an assessment, no matter how much he butted heads with the Sannin.

A short time passed before the two green-clad shinobi led him to their training spot, secluded in the middle of a large grove of trees. Hyūga Neji was meditating beneath the branches of a tree while Tenten was throwing kunai at straw dummies nailed into the trunks of the surrounding greenery. "Neji!" proclaimed Lee. "My youthful rival –"

"Hn," Neji grunted without opening his eyes, "back already?"

"— I challenge you to a fight!" Lee finished, ignoring the Hyūga's attitude.

"Neji, don't be so rude," Tenten interjected. "And will you accept his challenge for once?"

"What point is there in fighting him?" Neji questioned. "The outcome has already been determined."

"My youthful students!" boomed the taller, green-clad man. "While it does my heart good to see you so inflamed by the fires of your youth, I believe it would be more appropriate to introduce ourselves to our guest."

Naruto took that to be his cue. Sidestepping out from behind a tree, he raised a hand in greeting. "Uh, hey. Sorry about followin' you –"

"IT IS NO PROBLEM!" boomed the same man. "I am Maito Gai, and these are my youthful students, Lee, Tenten, and Neji! Tell me, have you come to learn how to stoke the fires of your youth?"

Naruto blinked. "What?" He didn't understand the things Gai was saying, and unlike with Zetsu, he doubted he wanted to find out either. From his periphery, the blonde could see Tenten making a slashing motion across her throat, and he decided that he _definitely_ didn't want to know. "Uh, no," he corrected hastily, hoping he hadn't left too much of an opening for Gai to elaborate, "I actually came to talk to you," he finished, turning to face Tenten.

"Me?" she echoed, surprised.

"Yep," he nodded, "I was watchin' the Chūnin Exams— oh," he interrupted himself, turning to Neji, "your match was really good."

"Naturally," Neji said, not even opening his eyes. "Fate decreed that I would be the winner."

_Weird,_ Naruto mused; that was a strange way to respond to a compliment. "Well, it was still cool. You must be some kinda genius."

He heard a loud_ smack_ and a groan from Tenten's direction. Naruto had a second to wonder what he had said before Lee shouted, "Neji, my rival! It appears as if even this newcomer recognizes your genius! But he does not know that there is a second type of genius, a genius of hard work! If only the Chūnin Exams had not been interrupted by our traitorous allies, I would have shown what a true genius of hard work could accomplish!"

Lee's babble was starting to give Naruto a headache. "Don't care," he interjected, uncaring as to how rude he appeared and returning his attention to Tenten. Before anyone could say anything else, he asked, "Can we talk somewhere?"

Tenten was looking at him curiously, but she shook her head and said, "Yeah, sure, follow me." As the pair left, Naruto could hear Lee and Gai speaking in loud voices, though he paid little attention to what was being said. Learning to get along with the impassive, stuck-up Neji (who was a skilled shinobi, judging by his Chūnin Exams' showing) was one thing; trying to adjust to the energy and sheer volume that were Lee and Gai was an entirely different story. "Sorry about Lee," Tenten apologized as they wandered through the forest. "He's…a lot to take in."

"No kiddin'."

"He's not so bad once you get to know him," she continued, giving Naruto the distinct impression that she didn't want to give him the wrong idea about her teammate. "Lee was at the bottom of our class in the Academy because he can't use ninjutsu or genjutsu, so he swore that he would become a ninja using only taijutsu. Gai-sensei supported him, but Neji…" she frowned slightly, trying to think of the right words to say.

Finally, she seemed to find them. "Neji's the prodigy of the Hyūga clan, a true genius, but he can be…difficult to get along with at times. He thinks that things are destined to happen, and that Lee's lack of ability to use anything but taijutsu is just a sign that he's not cut out to be a ninja. Lee's determined to prove him wrong by showing Neji that a genius of hard work can beat a true genius, but so far he's been unsuccessful. Nowadays, Neji just tries to ignore Lee as best he can, but Lee's pretty persistent."

"And loud," Naruto added.

"That, too," Tenten agreed. "I'm Tenten, by the way, but I guess you already knew that."

The blonde nodded. "Yeah, like I was sayin', I was watching your match in the Chūnin Exams –"

"Ugh, don't remind me," she groaned. "Getting taken out by that guy, that was so pathetic…"

"What did he do exactly?" Naruto asked after a moment.

"That body that I was attacking was a puppet," she explained. "I can't believe I didn't notice that!"

_A puppet…_ Well, that explained a lot. A puppet body would be impervious to any sort of projectile attack short of an exploding tag, which solved the mystery of how Kankurō had come out of that fight without a scratch. On top of that, if the puppet body was hollow, there was plenty of space for weapons, bombs, and poisons, any of which could have easily incapacitated Tenten after getting close to her. It was one more thing Naruto noted he would have to be wary of in the field, though if Konoha's lack of puppeteers was any indication, they were probably a rare breed of ninja. "That sucks."

Tenten nodded. "After that performance, I doubt I'll get promoted, though Neji might."

"People from clans have an advantage, I think," Naruto confided. "It's people like you and me who've come from nothin' who have to prove ourselves."

The bun-haired kunoichi shot him a strange look. "Were you even in the Chūnin Exams?"

"Kinda…" he hazarded. "My team failed the first test."

"No wonder you don't look familiar…"

"Naruto," he offered. "My name's Naruto. Like I said, I saw your skill in the Chūnin Exams and thought that you could help me out."

"My skill? With weapons, you mean?" she clarified, unrolling a scroll and summoning several sickles that she immediately began to juggle.

Naruto watched the revolving circle of metal spin through the air, slightly entranced. It was one thing to become proficient with throwing kunai and shuriken, common ninja tools as they were; it was quite another to have the hand-eye coordination and confidence to juggle sickles so casually. Such comfort also pointed to experience with weapons other than the basics most shinobi carried around, something Naruto hadn't even considered when first observing the kunoichi. As if to prove this point, Tenten sent the sickles spinning high into the air, unsealed a handful of kunai, and then flung them at off into the distance. One by one, she caught and released the descending sickles in the same direction, and as Naruto watched, the curved blades caught the kunai through the rings at their ends and then stuck, quivering, in the trunk of a tree.

Stunned, the blonde could only blink. _Holy…_

"Are you a weapons' expert, too?" Tenten asked, going to retrieve her projectiles.

"Not like _that_," Naruto managed. "How'd you do that?"

The kunoichi shrugged, resealing all of her weaponry except for a lone kunai, which she flipped idly in her right hand. "Practice. When you want to be strong, you have to dedicate yourself to doing the best you can."

Naruto understood that sentiment all too well. It was the backbone to his becoming reliant upon only himself, after all; strength was the key to escaping the cycle of having to learn from others. Not that that necessarily applied to Tenten – who most likely didn't share the same philosophy he did – but growing stronger was a generic goal of many shinobi. Strength provided extra insurance against dying in the field. "How come you chose weapons to get strong with? I mean," continued the blonde, "they're not exactly a normal thing to focus on, right?"

Tenten tossed the kunai into the air, caught it so the blade was pointing straight up, and brought it to eye-level, where she stared at it silently. "You've heard of Tsunade-sama, right?"

"Of the Sannin? Yeah."

"When I was younger, it was my dream to grow up and become just like her; she was my idol." As she spoke, Tenten seemed to be staring out into distance, her eyes starry; wherever this story was going, Naruto could tell that his companion held Tsunade in the highest regards. "When I became a Genin, I tried everything I could to be like her: medical jutsu, _**Kuchiyose no Jutsu**_, chakra-enhanced strength…but I failed at all of them.

"But, eventually, I found something that I was good at. That was fūinjutsu. The secret to sealing lies in what you seal," she explained, once more unrolling one of the scrolls she carried on the ground and kneeling beside it. With a swipe of her thumb across the parchment, a variety of weapons were laid out before her. Naruto recognized kunai, senbon, shuriken, makibishi, and sickles before his knowledge of ninja tools ran out; the different types of swords and other, more complex-looking weaponry were beyond his interest. Tenten picked up two of the sickles she had been juggling early, weighing them in her hands. "There's so many different types of weapons that you can adapt to any situation by adjusting what you're using."

Her right arm stretched out so that the top of the sickle was pointed directly at Naruto. "It was then that I swore that, instead of becoming like Tsunade-sama, I would become a legendary kunoichi by my own merit…by becoming a weapons' specialist! Take these kama, for example. Traditionally, they're used for reaping crops, but as weapons, they're used to block, trap, and disarm an opponent's weapon. Despite being more for short-range combat, they're capable of catching and trapping something more mid-range, like a staff."

"Wow…you know a lot about this stuff."

"I have to," Tenten stated, smiling at him. "It's my specialty."

"Well, I wanna specialize in senbon, but I'm having some problems with accuracy." There wasn't any point in telling Tenten that that was only half of his chosen focus; his knowledge of poisons would remain a secret until it became necessary to confide in the bun-haired kunoichi (if that time ever came to pass). "Can you help me?"

"Senbon, huh?" she affirmed, cupping her chin in thought. "Not exactly a commonly used ninja tool. I know that medics favor them because of how useful they are for acupuncture, and I use them because they're harder to spot than kunai, but…how'd you get interested in them?"

"Uh, well, there was this guy we fought on one of our missions who was really good with them, and I figured that since I had no other real skills, maybe I could get as good as he was."

Tenten nodded in understanding, and Naruto gave himself a mental pat on the back; half-truths continued to prove themselves effective. And in a way, Haku _had_ inspired him to rededicate himself to his training by giving him a stepping stone to aim for on his path to his ultimate goal. "You're not interested in any sort of melee weapon, are you?" When Naruto shook his head in response, Tenten continued, "Well, I think it's a good idea, but…" she shrugged, then unraveled a different scroll and summoned several targets, "it's your decision. Now, let's see what you can do." That said, she walked over to several of the surroundings trees and pinned the targets to their trunks, stabbing a kunai through a small, metal ring placed at the top of each one. Returning to Naruto's side, she commented, "Go ahead."

The blonde dipped a hand into his kunai pouch and came out with senbon gripped between his fingers, their tips resting against the palm of his fingerless glove. Holding them in front of his face, he lined up his shot and let the needles fly; two of them hit the target, while the third flew past it. Turning to the next target, he repeated the motion, this time focusing a bit harder and releasing the needles one after the other instead of in a group. The result was better, all the weapons piercing the intended target.

He repeated the exercise for all the targets Tenten had put up, the bun-haired kunoichi remaining silent throughout the entire ordeal. "Well," Tenten began when Naruto looked to her for guidance, "you're trying too hard. Every shot you made, you lined up beforehand and wasted a lot of time and effort for, well…"

"You can be honest," Naruto prompted, "I won't get mad."

Tenten seemed to hesitate a moment before nodding and saying, "Okay, well, the results weren't the best. You're not _bad_, but you definitely need some work. Focus on throwing one senbon at a time for now…and stop overthinking the shot. Look beyond the target and let your weapon go in that direction; your follow-through is important. If you notice that your arm doesn't end up pointing straight at the target, the senbon won't be released in the right direction. The motion should eventually become second nature to you, like this." She emphasized her statement by casually tossing a series of kunai – drawn from the pouch strapped to her leg – at each of the targets; Naruto noted that all the released projectiles hit their respective bull's-eyes.

The blonde listened as the older Genin continued to critique and correct his shurikenjutsu, absorbing all the information she offered as he considered her character. Tenten was so far proving herself to be a rather valuable asset; where Naruto appreciated Ino for her knowledge of flowers and accessibility to poisonous flora, Tenten seemed to have just as much experience and proficiency with weapons, making her vital to perfecting the other half of his skillset. She was an expert – or close enough to one for Naruto's sake – in her craft, a sure sign of a good teacher.

Beyond that, Tenten was also presenting herself as a mostly self-taught kunoichi with a realistic goal to achieve. She seemed relatively pleasant and mild-mannered, and best of all, she had yet to express some sort of infatuation with Sasuke (or any other male, for that matter). Her sensibility and objectivity – based on how she had described her teammates – were huge plusses, and the fact that she held no previous bias against him due to not sharing classes in the Academy meant that befriending her would be a much easier task than it had been for Ino.

It was hard to compare Ino to Tenten (especially since he had just met the latter), but until a time came where the older kunoichi held no more use to him, Naruto could see himself working with her just as easily, if not more so, than he could with Ino.

"Did you get all that?"

"Hm? Yeah, sure," he agreed.

"Good." Tenten reached behind her back, once more bringing forth one of the miniature scrolls she stored her weapons in. In a fluid motion, she unraveled the first foot into the air, swiped her thumb across it, and rerolled it, ending up with a weapon that resembled a kama attached by a chain to a small weight. "Fight me."

Naruto blinked, taken aback by the kunoichi's sudden intensity. "What?"

"Just because I'm a master marksman doesn't mean that I can't fight at close-range. Even if you specialize, you have to understand the strengths and weaknesses of your techniques, and that means devising ways to counter any shortcomings you have." Holding the chain at a point closer to the weighted end, she began to twirl it, creating a blur of grey in front of her form. "Using my kusarigama's weighted end, I can successfully repel any kunai, shuriken, or senbon you throw at me. Now, show me what you'd do!"

With that, she released the weighted end of the kusarigama, forcing Naruto to dive out of the way; there was a loud _crunch_, and Naruto turned to find that the weapon had torn a huge divot out of the trunk of the tree he'd been standing in front of. _Holy shit, _he thought, _she's serious._ His attention refocused on the weapons' specialist as she tugged the chain back to her and returned to swinging the kusarigama's weighted end. _Good thing I came prepared to fight with Jiraiya._

He threw out a handful of kunai which were instantly repelled when Tenten brought the spinning chain around to bear. "I told you that wouldn't work!" she informed him over the whirring noise of the chain. "Don't tell me you're not taking me seriously; I'll show you that a kunoichi is as strong as any male shinobi!"

_Is that what people think?_ Naruto wondered as he dodged the kusarigama; while the _**Shinra Bansh**__**ō**_ would have allowed him to easily evade the other Genin's assault, he was loathe to reveal all his tricks (let alone his most prized one) to someone he had just met. Even confiding the technique in Ino had been a bit of a gamble, despite needing her to understand its use in order to test the extent of its abilities.

But Tenten brought up interesting points. The first was one he had realized during the Chūnin Exams, which was that all techniques had their weaknesses, and that knowing them and knowing how to work around them was an important part of being a shinobi. For all Gaara's confidence in his ability to kill Naruto, the blonde had managed to evade death due solely to the Attack Prevention Technique, and then incapacitate his fellow Jinchūriki by way of a gas bomb.

Training to eliminate those weaknesses was important. Naruto had neglected his physical conditioning in favor of perfecting the Attack Prevention Technique and making poisons to fit his chosen specialty, but as he continued to avoid Tenten's assault, he realized that doing so was a mistake. Just because Zetsu didn't use taijutsu in his life didn't mean that the same would or should apply to Naruto; everyone's experiences were different, as his tutor liked to point out all too often. What was right for one person wasn't necessarily right for another.

It probably wasn't something he needed to focus on immensely (say, to the extent Rock Lee apparently did), but becoming a well-rounded shinobi was important. If he didn't, the promotion that he strove for would be that much further out of reach. When Jiraiya returned from his discussion, perhaps he would be able to give the blonde some pointers on how to improve his taijutsu and counter his weaknesses. Surely someone with the Sannin's experience and reputation had plenty of advice to offer.

But beyond acknowledging that he needed to branch out with his ninja know-how, Tenten had brought up a curious subject. Did people really think of men as stronger than women?

As Tenten moved in closer and began to swipe at him with the sickle part of the kusarigama while continuing to keep the weighted end spinning, Naruto thought about it. The blonde concluded rather quickly that the knowledge he had on the subject was too small to come up with a proper answer. He had been in too few battles to accurately gauge the different calibers of male and female ninja, and while he'd often watched Team 10's training sessions, the only member he'd actually sparred against was Ino.

Perhaps Zetsu, with his years of experience serving the Hidden Grass and additional years on the run, could give him a better idea of what Tenten meant; the bun-haired girl seemed to be too biased to get an objective opinion from if he asked for clarification.

Deciding to prove to Tenten that he wasn't taking her lightly, Naruto planned his next move. Diving to the side to get some distance, he used the motion to unclasp one of his ceramic jars and hurl it at the kunoichi's feet. Upon impact with the ground, it released a cloud of thin, grey smoke that immediately sent the bun-haired Genin into a coughing and sneezing fit.

_Success!_ he thought, activating the Attack Prevention Technique while his opponent was temporarily blinded. The jar had contained a mixture of pepper and ragweed, a concoction which he had hoped could serve as a substitute for the manchineel gas he had yet to bottle. Rising up behind Tenten – who had stumbled a short ways out of the cloud to clear her watering eyes – he wrapped one arm around her waist and lifted a senbon so its tip was against her temple. "Gotcha."

"What…was that?" Tenten coughed.

"Secret," Naruto teased. It was strange to consider, but his short time with Tenten had actually been fun. Maybe it was because, like Zetsu, the bun-haired Genin had tested him (even if she had done so inadvertently) and expanded his worldview, causing him to look at things from other perspectives; and unlike when Zetsu did it, he didn't have to put up with insults or a snarky attitude with the older girl.

Tenten, like Ino, could become the closest approximation to a friend Naruto had.

"Well," spoke a new voice, startling both Genin, "not sure what I'm interrupting here, but I need to speak to the kid." Naruto and Tenten both whirled around to find Jiraiya leaning against a nearby tree, his face sporting a rather disturbing grin. "Alone, if possible, little missy."

"O-of course, Jiraiya-sama," Tenten said, bowing hastily. To Naruto, she added, "This was fun. Work on what I told you, and if you ever want more help or just a sparring partner, let me know. I could always use a break from my team." That said, she resealed her kusarigama and walked off into the woods, back towards where they had left her teammates. Naruto almost called after her to ask why she had decided to help him, but then decided against it; it was better to not have an audience for such a question, and he figured he could get his answer by returning the targets and kunai she'd left stuck to the trees.

He waited until she had disappeared before turning back to the Sannin. "What's up, Jiraiya-sensei?"

The Toad Sage straightened up and uncrossed his arms from where they had been folded over his chest. "Pack up for a trip, kid, we're headin' off to find the next Hokage."

-l-l-l-

**Author's Note:** Enter Tenten. I've never had to write her in a significant capacity before, so I hope it was okay. She'll appear on and off to play a part in Naruto's development. Also, first attempt at Jiraiya, so_…_yeah. 'Sensei' can apparently be used to refer a respected/distinguished older person, and since Koharu and Homura are the Third's teammates, I thought Jiraiya might use this title. Anyway, feel free to leave your thoughts in a review.

Also, poll up on my profile; feel free to check it out and vote!


	10. Compliance & Resistance

_What battles do you choose to stand and fight, and which ones are more worth your while to simply give up when you think there's no better deal?_

-l-l-l-

Naruto blinked. "We hafta what?"

"You heard me, kid," Jiraiya stated. "You and me are off to find the next Hokage."

"Yeah, but…" Naruto paused, unsure how to phrase what he wanted to ask. Realizing he wasn't even sure what he wanted to know the answer to, he simply finished, "Why?"

"The esteemed elders –" and the way Jiraiya said the word 'esteemed' left no question in Naruto's mind how he felt about them, "— decided on a candidate for the position of Godaime Hokage. I said 'no'…so now I have to find my replacement."

"Is he on a mission?"

"_She_…" Jiraiya paused to consider his words, then shook his head. "It's complicated."

_She?_ Naruto wondered. It hadn't even occurred to him to think that the next Hokage – that any Hokage, really – would be female. Perhaps that tied into what Tenten had mentioned about kunoichi being considered weaker than their male counterparts. Now he really wanted to ask Zetsu about that. "What's complicated about it?" he questioned, now honestly curious.

The Toad Sannin heaved a sigh that was equal parts exasperation and…was that sadness? Naruto struggled to keep his expression neutral, annoyed at his teacher's apparent irritation with his questions. If the blonde wanted roundabout answers, he would just go to Zetsu; he expected Jiraiya to be a bit more forward with what they were doing.

Resigning himself to an inquisition, Jiraiya settled himself cross-legged on the ground and rested his elbow on his knee, leaning his face against the palm of his hand. "Tsunade has a bad history with Konoha."

Naruto frowned, confused at such a vague explanation despite it answering who the upcoming Hokage was supposed to be. Tsunade's exploits were as legendary as her teammates', even more so in a way, as she had been the one to create the system of medical ninja that was used in most villages currently. While her status as one of the Sannin and a powerful kunoichi made her an apt candidate for the title of Godaime Hokage, Jiraiya made it sound as if she would be unwilling to take the position. 'Bad history' didn't really justify or explain why Tsunade wasn't currently in the village, especially since most ninja lived difficult and potentially traumatizing lives. "What's that mean?"

"War's a bitch, kid. Konoha won the Second Shinobi World War in large part due to Tsunade, but the victory wasn't without its price." White eyebrows furrowed together in remembrance of a time long past. "Tsunade wears a crystal necklace," he continued, tapping his sternum twice with his right pointer and middle fingers, "inherited from her grandfather, the Shodai Hokage. It's so valuable, you could buy three mountains containing gold mines with it."

"What's this gotta do with –"

Jiraiya forestalled him by holding up a hand, palm-out. "To Tsunade, the necklace was a symbol of her grandfather's love for the village, and a sign that the wearer was worthy of bearing the title 'Hokage'. She gave it to her younger brother as a gift on his twelfth birthday; he was killed in battle the next day.

"As you can imagine, Tsunade took her brother's death very hard –" Naruto actually couldn't imagine it, having never known his family and lacking the emotional attachment associated with it to sympathize, but he didn't say so, "— but she still swore to protect the village as her grandfather had before her. She argued with the Sandaime to incorporate medical ninja into all squads that were deployed on missions, but we were at war, and there was no time for such intensive training. He rejected the proposal.

"But someone else believed in Tsunade's ideals. His name was Dan, and over the period of time that he helped defend her beliefs, they grew close; eventually, Tsunade fell in love with this man who shared the dreams of her grandfather and brother. The day before they left on a mission in enemy territory, she entrusted him with the Shodai's crystal necklace…" Jiraiya closed his eyes and bowed his head in memoriam to Tsunade's lover. "By the time Tsunade reached him, it was too late…too many of his vitals had been hit, and even her reputation as the greatest medic-nin alive wasn't enough to save him. Another of her precious people had died because she had entrusted him with her dream, giving him a necklace she came to believe was cursed. After that, she left the village, unable to bear being in the place that had inspired her brother and lover to do potentially great things, but which had ultimately led to their deaths."

Jiraiya looked up at Naruto. "Do you understand now why I need you?"

"…Uh-uh," the blonde responded, shaking his head.

The Sannin rose to his feet with a sigh. "Tsunade needs to be reminded that there's someone who's still willing to follow the dreams of those she lost, that hope isn't dead. That's where you come in. With any luck, your stubbornness and dream to become Hokage will convince her to return to Konoha."

Blue eyes widened slightly at that admission. _Right, forgot about that._ Based on the conversation with the Sandaime, Jiraiya was still operating under the (faulty) assumption that his desire was to eventually become Hokage. It was good that that argument was (apparently) holding steady, but Naruto had issues with Jiraiya's plans.

For one thing, losing loved ones was a poor excuse to essentially abandon one's home and life; death was a natural part of life, even more so when being a shinobi was one's chosen profession. Granted, the blonde acknowledged that having no loved ones made him slightly biased on the matter, but Tsunade's lack of attachment to the Hidden Leaf (and again, Naruto tried to ignore the hypocritical application of the thought to his own lifestyle) was troubling.

That was another big sticking point. Even if he did accompany Jiraiya on this mission – and did the Sannin even know where to find his wayward teammate? – there was no guarantee that Tsunade would return with them…especially if _he_ was supposed to be the lynchpin trying to convince her to come back. Weaving half-truths and lies based on his old personality was simple in some respect, especially if he was trying to dupe people who were attached to him, as the Sandaime had been; using said personality to argue a case he no longer believed to someone he'd never met actually sounded more complex. Tsunade had had – Naruto did a rough estimate of numbers based on what he had skimmed about the Second Shinobi World War – _30 years_ (_is that right?_ he wondered, awed) of traveling with the same mindset.

To think that he could undo such a way of thinking was laughable. Understanding and manipulating Gaara, whose similarities he could trace in both himself and Zetsu, had been doable, if dangerous; Jiraiya was asking the impossible.

Instead of pointing out these flaws, Naruto asked, "How come you didn't become the Hokage?"

Jiraiya snorted. "I'm not suited to a life of sitting around and managing politics, kid. I like the adventure, the thrill of the chase…" The Sannin's face adopted a dreamy, faraway look that Naruto had (rather unfortunately) learned meant he was thinking of something perverse; he shook it off after a moment. "I wouldn't be a good fit."

Briefly, Naruto wondered what exactly Jiraiya did for Konoha; given that he hadn't seen the Sannin until the Chūnin Exams, it was probably safe to assume that the white-haired man worked outside the Hidden Leaf's walls most of the time. If he did _really_ important work, taking the position of Hokage would certainly put a damper on such activities.

He gave himself a mental shake; the point was moot. "Sorry, Jiraiya-sensei," he offered, "but I'm gonna hafta pass."

Instead of reacting as he had when the blonde had rejected the Toad Summoning Contract, Jiraiya merely squinted at him, as if searching for some answer Naruto had hidden on his person. The Sannin crossed his arms over his broad chest. "First the Summoning Contract and now this. Mind telling me why you're passing up an opportunity to personally bring back the next Hokage?"

"She won't make a good Hokage."

"What? Kid, she's one of the Sannin, one of the best Konoha's ever produced –"

Naruto shook his head. "That ain't it. Maybe she belonged here once, but she doesn't care about the village anymore. The Old Man always talked about…the burning will of the village," he continued, pretending to remember something told to him long ago, "and she doesn't have it. I'm not gonna go fetch a Hokage who doesn't believe what the Old Man believed."

Unmentioned went the fact that _he_ thought such a belief was stupid; his opinions, to Jiraiya's ears, at least, hopefully carried the conviction of one who actually followed such tenets.

"The Will of Fire…" Jiraiya murmured, more to himself than Naruto. He seemed to be considering something, though the blonde couldn't say for sure what it is; perhaps he had gotten lost reminiscing about his former teammate. "Tsunade'll come back," he said aloud, though Naruto wondered if he wasn't trying to reassure himself more than anything else. "She doesn't abandon those in need. You sure you don't wanna come? I'll teach you a really cool jutsu," he bribed.

"Nah, I've got things to work on here," refused the Jinchūriki. Collecting the manchineel gas, remaking the sleeping concoction he'd used on Gaara, tweaking the bomb he'd used on Tenten…his collection of poisons and bottled vapors would grow now that he'd experimented with them and wasn't in any immediate danger, giving him time to work on them. "Maybe you can teach me when you come back."

Jiraiya stared at him for a long moment, before muttering, "Not as alike as I thought…"

_Who'm I not alike?_ the blonde wondered. Better yet, why was Jiraiya comparing him to someone else at all? Naruto strove to be his own person, as unique as…well, as Zetsu, he supposed. If the Toad Sannin was trying to teach him things in order to turn him into someone else, perhaps learning from him wouldn't be as good a use of his time as he'd originally thought. His specialty needed techniques to supplement it and make it stronger; if Jiraiya couldn't help him with that, maybe it was time their student-teacher relationship ended.

"Fine," Jiraiya stated, "I'm off then. We'll be having a talk when I get back, though."

"Sure thing, Jiraiya-sensei," Naruto grinned, waving farewell to him. "See ya soon!"

He waited until the white-haired man had disappeared before allowing his arm to drop, the smile on his face fading to a thoughtful frown. It wasn't good that Jiraiya had his suspicions, but there was nothing he could do about it until the Sannin returned. A new Hokage, at least, meant a chance for new beginnings, someone that he could perhaps fool much easier than the Sandaime…someone like Tsunade, whom he had no personal relationship with.

Naruto sincerely doubted she would take up the post, based on what his teacher had said, but he would wait and see what happened. For now, he would restock his ceramic jars and continue his experiments, preparing for whatever challenges lay ahead.

-l-l-l-

He wasn't sure why, but he decided to return to Yamanaka Flowers instead of going straight home. His poisons would be there for him when he did return; the flower shop, on the other hand, needed attention sooner rather than later, and Naruto wanted to get back to work and earn money, especially since Jiraiya would be gone for a bit.

Guilt, he told himself, over abandoning Ino in order to befriend Tenten had absolutely nothing to do with his decision.

The Jinchūriki found his fellow blonde digging diligently at the opposite planter she'd been working at earlier; the first one had already been refilled with fresh soil and new, colorful plants. Ino turned as his presence become more noticeable, one hand holding a trowel, the other forming a fist which she placed on her hip. Idly, he wondered whether she had sensed or heard his arrival. "Well, look who finally decided to come back," she said haughtily, clearly annoyed. "Thanks for all the help earlier."

Naruto blinked, then offered a hesitant, hopefully charming, grin. "You're welcome." Judging by her unchanging glare, Ino didn't seem to appreciate his attempt at dismissing her sarcasm with humor; the smudges of dirt decorating her clothes and face indicated that she'd been hard at work ever since he'd left. "Sorry," he tried, "but hey, I made a new friend!"

Ino huffed and returned to her task of refilling the shop's planters with fresh flowers. Naruto remained silent, mildly put out that this achievement hadn't elicited a response from the chatty blonde. "Are you mad at me?" he hazarded.

For a moment, the trowel's movement of digging through soil paused. "Yes," Ino answered, returning to her work without turning around. "…No. Both."

Naruto scratched his head: females were confusing. He didn't regret leaving Ino to befriend Tenten – the benefits far outweighed the cost – but he knew that the Yamanaka had a temper and held grudges. It would just be easier to accept whatever ire Ino held and move on. Grabbing a gardener's glove that was lying on the ground, he placed it on his right hand and began to dig through the scorched earth of the trellis.

They worked side-by-side in silence for several minutes. Finally, Ino said, "Dad was gone at a council meeting this morning."

Naruto nodded to show that he was listening, curious to see where the conversation was headed. Ino continued, "He came back not too long after you _left_ –" by the way she bit off the last word, she was still annoyed with him, "— and said that it was likely that Shikamaru would be promoted to Chūnin."

"They can do that?"

"Nothing's official until we get a new Hokage, but it'll probably go through. He apparently showed all the right qualities a Chūnin needs to have."

The blonde waited for more, but nothing else came. "Well, isn't that good?" he asked.

Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say. Ino whirled on him, dirt flying into his face as the trowel was leveled at him. "Oh, sure, good for Shikamaru!" she snapped. "It's _great_ that he gets to move on to other things while I'm still stuck as a Genin. I'm twice the shinobi he is, the only difference is _he_ got to show what he could do before we got invaded, and I didn't!"

Naruto's blue eyes were crossed, staring at the tool quivering an inch from his nose. Unsure how to respond to such a rant, he offered neutrally, "Neither did Chōji."

Ino lowered the trowel with a snort, returning to her task. "Chōji doesn't like to fight, it's not that big a deal to him. He doesn't have a goal to strive for. How am I going to get Sasuke's attention if I don't get a chance to prove myself?" she moaned.

Naruto didn't point out that Ino's goal of trying to impress Sasuke was as stupid as Chōji not having a goal; that would only make her more irate. "So…you're not happy for him?"

The platinum blonde sighed. "It's not that. It's just…with Shikamaru getting promoted before us, Chōji and I don't have a third person to enter the next set of Chūnin Exams with." She shook her head. "The three of us work better together than apart."

Naruto knew well of the teamwork required for the Ino-Shika-Chō combination; he had seen Team 10 practice enough to know the importance of Shikamaru's Shadow Possession Technique to the success of both the Yamanaka's and Akimichi's clan techniques. Still…

Ino had just opened up an opportunity to start things anew. Where he had failed to fit in with the now-demolished Team 7, he got along well with Team 10. An opening under Asuma's leadership not only allowed him to participate in the Chūnin Exams the next time they were held, but it potentially got him away from the watchful and suspicious eyes of Jiraiya, who was apparently becoming more of a liability than an asset. "What if I took over for Shikamaru?"

His fellow blonde stared at him, both surprised and dubious. "You want to become a member of Team 10?"

Naruto shrugged. "Sure, why not? You need someone to fill the place, and I don't have a team. And we're already friends, so it's not like you hafta get used to some random person. It's a perfect fit."

Ino shook her head. "Naruto, it's not that I don't appreciate the offer, but…" she paused to think of the right way to phrase her rejection. "You're just not Shikamaru," she finally settled on.

Naruto knew what she was referring to; without the Shadow Possession Technique, Ino didn't think their team would possess the same synergy. Of course, unless they replaced Shikamaru with another Nara, the same would hold true of any replacement they got…except perhaps him.

Quick as a flash, his left hand dug into his right sleeve, withdrawing a single senbon from where it was held in the cuff. He dug the needle into Ino's exposed bicep, eliciting a sharp, "Ow!" from the girl as he did so. She turned to him with fire in her eyes, shouting in outrage, "Naruto, what the _hell_ do you think you're do— hey! What's going on?!"

The Jinchūriki watched in mild fascination as Ino's motor functions slowed to a halt. Only her eyes – panicked, but still blazing with righteous indignation – and mouth were capable of movement, courtesy of the paralytic toxin the needle had been dipped in; it was made from horse-chestnut, which Zetsu had explained the properties of after he had mistakenly tried eating it one day. Normally less effective on humans, he had increased its potency to startling degrees by saturating it with his chakra.

As he was seeing, the results were rather spectacular. "What were you sayin'?"

"_Naruto,_" she growled, "you _better_ hope whatever you did doesn't wear off, 'cause when it does, I'm going to KILL YOU!"

Naruto frowned at her. "That's no way to get the antidote, Ino. You gotta be _nice_." She growled again, this time deeper in her throat; despite the fact that she probably _would_ kill him once she was free, the Jinchūriki found the current situation amusing. "Say that I can replace Shikamaru," he prompted.

"It's not my decision!" she snapped. When Naruto continued to stare at her patiently, she inhaled a deep breath through her nose and then released it. "Fine… If you can do _this_ –" she tried gesturing to herself, but gave up the motion as futile, "— I _guess _you can replace Shikamaru on our team. But it's up to Asuma-sensei!" she added, making sure he understood that just because she gave permission didn't mean he was guaranteed the spot.

"Mmmm…good enough," he decided. Pulling out one of his scrolls, he unrolled it on the ground and swiped his thumb across the parchment, unsealing a jar and a syringe. Uncorking the jar, he dipped the syringe in and pulled back the plunger, watching it fill with a pale green liquid. Squirting some out of the tip and making sure there were no air bubbles – as Zetsu had told him to do when experimenting with injection antidotes – he stuck the needle into Ino's bicep and pushed down on the plunger.

Taking a step back, he resealed his tools and then looked at Ino. "It might take a couple minutes to work," he told her. "Try wigglin' a finger or two." She did so, twitching first her pinkie, then her ring finger, then her thumb. Naruto felt some measure of pride with his work, despite the antidote having a delayed effect. Perhaps they should be designed that way, so that he could escape if need be? It was a thought for another time; Ino's entire hand was flexing experimentally.

To Naruto, it looked as if she were preparing to strangle him. "Well, think I'll just leave you to your work," he said, coating his body in a thin layer of chakra and seeding more into the ground. He took off the glove and threw it at her feet. "See ya later!"

Even moving through the ground with the Attack Prevention Technique wasn't enough to shield him from Ino's enraged howl of, "NA-_RU-__**TOOO!"**_

-l-l-l-

He and Zetsu had reached an unspoken agreement about their meetings. With the plant-man's proclamation of being a better-than-average sensor and his advisement to be aware of his surroundings, Naruto would simply wander the forest where he normally met his tutor and wait for Zetsu to appear. If he didn't, the blonde could assume that he was either being followed or watched in some capacity, or that the former Kusa-nin was simply not around (or uninterested in speaking with him; Zetsu was fickle enough for that to be a possibility).

There was apparently no danger, for when Naruto found himself surrounded by Konoha's greenery, Zetsu made his appearance by melding out of an oak tree. "Naruto-kun!" greeted White Zetsu enthusiastically. **"It has been some time since we had a chance to speak.** Jiraiya's been snoopin' around, but we're sneakier. **Yes, the Toad Sannin has been making quite a nuisance of himself."**

_Ah…_ So Jiraiya _had_ been keeping an eye on him; his paranoia, at least, wasn't completely without justification. All the more reason to remove himself from the Sannin's presence as soon as possible, even if it might make the older man more suspicious of him in the long run. "He's out searchin' for the next Hokage," Naruto offered in explanation. "He wanted me to go with, but I didn't wanna."

Zetsu nodded, as if such a decision had been a foregone conclusion. Not for the first time, Naruto wondered how good the plant-man was at reading people. Certainly he was well-traveled – enough so to understand and dismiss other peoples' ideologies – but to be able to almost predict scenarios that Naruto would be confronted with and have to give answers to spoke of an ability to understand others that the blonde found…unusual. It was especially creepy when _Zetsu_ – who didn't interact with society – was good at it. **"Good. Intelligent.** What did you tell him?"

Making himself comfortable on the forest floor, Naruto told Zetsu of his conversation with Jiraiya about Tsunade, then backtracked to cover his interrupted training session with the Sannin, his meetings with Ino, and his new association with Tenten. Surprisingly, both sides of the plant-man remained silent throughout the monologue. At the end of his retelling, Naruto prompted, "Any thoughts?"

**"The Sannin's interest in you is disturbing,"** remarked Black Zetsu, "but you've done good at avoiding him. And you made a new friend!"

"Well, I dunno about –"

**"Yes,"** sneered the plant-man's darker side in a sibilant caress, **"associate yourself with more of these foolish Konoha-nin whose desire for attachments get them killed."**

"She has her uses," Naruto argued. "All the poisons and stuff you've been teachin' me have worked so far. Once she helps me learn senbon, I'll be really good." It was a little hard to believe he was fighting for something that could be construed as camaraderie, but Naruto had learned achieving his goal was a priority, no matter how he had to reach it.

Black Zetsu apparently noticed the contradiction, for he said, **"Hypocrite."** Naruto thought he heard the vaguest lilt of a smirk in his voice…or there would have been, if the plant-man's darker half had a mouth to perform such an action. It was almost as if he had expected the blonde to have to resolve such a contradiction.

_Well, it is Zetsu_, he thought. _Guess I'm not that surprised anymore._

"You'll do good with someone to guide you, Naruto-kun," White Zetsu stated. "This calls for a celebration! **Hardly. When he becomes truly independent, then he can celebrate.** But then he'll have no one to celebrate with. **That's the point."**

"Yeah yeah yeah, anyway," Naruto interjected, "I had something I wanted to ask you." Zetsu's normal yellow eye rolled over to fixate on the Jinchūriki. "You've fought against a lot of people, right?"

The former Kusa-nin nodded. **"Fought.** Beaten. **Eaten."**

Tenten's words echoed in Naruto's mind. "Are male shinobi stronger than female shinobi? I mean," he continued when Zetsu didn't answer right away, "I've never really been in a real fight where I could see the difference."

Zetsu was silent for a long moment, and Naruto briefly entertained the idea that he had posed a question which had stumped his tutor; he was almost disappointed when the plant-man came up with a response. **"Many consider male shinobi to be stronger than their female counterparts, though it is a fallacy to do so.** Bad idea," White Zetsu elaborated when Naruto appeared confused at the word 'fallacy'. Black Zetsu immediately corrected, **"_Wrong_ idea."**

"So it's not true."

**"That is not what I said. **It's just something that people _think_ is true."

Naruto scratched his head, confused; this conversation was even harder to follow than most of the ones he had with his tutor. "So it's not right, but it's not wrong either?"

Zetsu nodded. **"Correct.** You see, Naruto-kun, it really just depends on the situation. **It is generally accepted that men have greater physical strength than women, so they are considered stronger than their kunoichi counterparts.** But not all battles depend on physical strength. Kunoichi usually have better chakra control than male shinobi, **allowing them to potentially outlast men in a test of endurance.** They're also sent out on more seduction missions, as men are normally more distracted by sex than women are." Black Zetsu snorted. **"Fools."**

The blonde took in everything his tutor said with a careful ear, trying to reconcile the former Kusa-nin's experience with what he knew.

He _had_ seen more men in higher ranks than women – which would normally point to the conclusion that men were stronger than women – but that could've just been a result of fewer females choosing the career path of a ninja than males. After all, Teams 7, 8, and 10 – hell, even Gai's team – were all composed of two males and one female…mostly with male Jōnin-sensei, too, now that he thought about it. So perhaps the fallacy of males being stronger than females had its roots in sheer quantity of the genders acting as ninja.

But that wasn't the entirety of it, at least according to Zetsu. _Specialties,_ he mused. _Chakra control, endurance, seduction…_

That argument sounded familiar, a balance of strengths and weaknesses and what worked well against what. _Like a taijutsu specialist versus someone good at ninjutsu,_ he thought, _or someone using poisons against a medic. Someone's almost always gonna have an advantage over someone else, regardless of gender._

Using that explanation actually resolved much of the earlier problems he'd come across in his way of thinking, not to mention solidifying his conclusions during the Chūnin Exams. Just like most of his epiphanies when speaking with Zetsu, this one came around full circle to a fact that he'd already discovered on his own. Simply applying that newfound knowledge to scenarios and situations different from the ones he'd originally learned it from was a skill he hadn't yet perfected, which was why he had Zetsu to bounce ideas off of.

He opened his mouth to say something, but Black Zetsu cut across him with a throaty, **"Silence."** Naruto pouted, mildly affronted, but the plant-man's darker side continued, **"There are two powerful chakra signatures approaching Konoha from the west. One of them is…peculiar. And vast."**

The blonde wasn't sure what to say. Zetsu's sensory abilities – while prolific – lent very little meaning to someone who was unused to sensing chakra signatures. A pair of supposedly powerful shinobi entering Konoha could indicate Jiraiya had found Tsunade, but considering that the white-haired Sannin had just left, it was doubtful that he was already returning. More worrying was the fact that these shinobi were apparently strong enough that the former Kusa-nin felt the need to announce it.

**"This merits investigating. **We'll be back soon!" White Zetsu announced, and before Naruto could say anything, the plant-man was gone.

Stymied out of his conversation, Naruto decided to finish reconciling the male versus female and strengths-slash-weaknesses theories he'd learned while he waited for his tutor to return.

Once upon a time, he had considered Sasuke to be stronger than both him and Sakura, but that had been due in part to the Uchiha's graduation status as Rookie of the Year. And while it might have been true back then that Sasuke was 'the strongest Genin', he simply couldn't be the best at everything. Everyone had a weakness, and Naruto could distinctly remember being held up against a wall, itching to just stab Sasuke and flood his body with poison. The blonde knew that his former teammate had more skill in taijutsu, ninjutsu, and general knowledge, but in a competition of kill-or-be-killed, he had the abilities to take out the Uchiha.

The male-female argument was a bit harder to imagine from purely a gender perspective, even with his closest friend being Ino. In a straightforward battle, where both blondes could use all their skills, Naruto was sure that he could avoid any of Ino's clan techniques and fancy taijutsu simply by using the _**Shinra Banshō,**_ and then neutralize her with one of his toxins – that strategy had worked well enough against Tenten, at least.

He frowned. Creating such a broad generalization seemed…unfair…when trying to sort out the differences between the genders. Just as he had contrasted his abilities with Sasuke's and drawn conclusions about their respective skills, it seemed more appropriate to approach each person individually when questioning their strength. Lumping all kunoichi together and collectively considering them weaker than their male counterparts wasn't at all accurate; hell, the difference between Ino and Tenten was telling enough.

So it once again came down to a question of specialties and weaknesses, measuring one's self against his or her opponent. He wondered briefly if women just came across more bad match-ups for their abilities in the field, a detriment which had earned them the label of being the weaker sex. Statistics could support that theory, but Naruto was poor enough at math to willingly brush off any such numbers as useless.

Numbers meant grades, and grades meant ranking, and he had already determined that things like class- and ninja-rank meant little in the shinobi world.

The seduction thing, though…that was interesting. Ino's flirtations earlier in the day had rather unsettled him, if in part because it had been so unexpected. Naruto was used to being ignored and disliked, and the novelty of having someone of the opposite sex interested in him – pretend or otherwise – was an unusual experience. In that case, the blonde could understand how women were sent out on more seduction missions than men; that wasn't to say that most males would react as he had, but the distraction had been quite effective, pointing to future continued success with additional training and/or more experience.

Perhaps it also offered an explanation for why young kunoichi like Tenten looked to Tsunade for inspiration; from what he'd heard and read of her reputation, the Sannin seemed to have broken out of the typical role of being looked upon not only as inferior, but also serving as a seductress-type kunoichi. Naruto didn't doubt that Tsunade was skilled – or had been in her prime, at any rate – but he had learned to stop looking for inspiration from those who seemed too good to be true. Worshipping false idols only led to disappointment, and the Jinchūriki felt that he had suffered enough of that for a lifetime.

Zetsu returned almost a quarter of an hour later, melding out of a tree in his usual fashion. He was silent as Naruto turned around, fixing him with an expressionless, blue-eyed gaze. When the plant-man continued to remain mute, Naruto prompted impatiently, "Well?"

"Invaders," White Zetsu chirped cheerfully, as if the prospect of facing foreigners excited him. **"Nukenin,"** Black Zetsu corrected. **"Strong ones.** They tossed around those Konoha-nin pretty good."

"Did they kill anyone?"

**"Concerned?"** Black Zetsu mocked sardonically.

"No," shrugged the blonde, "just curious."

**"No.** Such a pity," mourned White Zetsu.

"So you were worried for nothin'."

**"No."**

"No?"

"Nope!" White Zetsu chirruped. "They were on a mission!"

"Nukenin take missions?" Naruto voiced before he could stop himself.

**"Of course. How else do you think they fund their endeavors?"**

_Right, duh._ He hadn't really thought about what being a missing-nin might entail, though it seemed relatively obvious that their skills might be highly sought after for certain tasks. To survive as a nukenin, a shinobi had to be strong, and the stronger you were, the wider range of missions you could take. Missing-nin had to have goals and objectives of their own – those that couldn't be fulfilled while in a village – which required money to accomplish. Not to mention buying clothes, food, lodgings, and other supplies during their travels. "So what was their mission?"

Zetsu's gaze grew suddenly more intense – even the darker half's yellow, pupil-less eye seemed to be focusing intently upon the blonde. **"You."**

Naruto blinked. Twice. "What?"

**"Two men in black cloaks **decorated with red clouds** broke into the village to capture you.** I didn't recognize either of them, did you? **No, but the tall one with the large chakra reserves is a former member of Kirigakure's Seven Shinobi Swordsmen."**

The Jinchūriki flinched at that, remembering what it had been like to be confronted by Zabuza. "But, wait…you said you didn't recognize them, so how do you know that?"

**"He was carrying a giant sword that I could detect radiating chakra," **Black Zetsu deadpanned.

"And how do you know they were after me?"

**"They claimed to be seeking the Kyūbi Jinchūriki.** And that's you!"

Naruto moaned. "I'm screwed…"

"It's okay, Naruto-kun," White Zetsu placated. "They left not long after arriving. I think you're safe."

The blonde brightened in relief. "Really?"

Zetsu nodded, though Naruto thought the motion came more from the plant-man's light side than a unified agreement. **"Yes…though curious. Why leave when they had the advantage…?"** The Genin remained silent as Black Zetsu mused to himself, trying to imagine what this new development meant for him. **"Black cloaks…**with red clouds!" White Zetsu added again. **"It is most likely symbolic. We will investigate.** We will?"

"You will?" Naruto echoed in surprise.

**"Yes. You have adapted well to your situation and are aware of what you must do. As you are helpless to assist yourself in this matter –"** White Zetsu tittered lightly, though Naruto wasn't exactly sure at what; perhaps at his darker side's thinly-veiled insult, **"— we will look into this matter."**

"But you don't do anything for free," he pointed out.

Black Zetsu snorted. **"I do not like the idea of an unknown organization comprised of powerful shinobi running amok. Nukenin work by themselves…that is the natural order. This****…**disruption…displeases me. We will return with more information. Bye bye, Naruto-kun!" White Zetsu offered as the plant-man disappeared into Konoha's greenery.

Naruto stared at the spot his tutor had vanished, trying to process the events of the day. Jiraiya was suspicious of him, Ino was mad at him, Zetsu was helping him, and there was a group of strong shinobi capable of easily infiltrating one of the Five Great Shinobi Nations hunting him.

He turned around and began to walk back home, thoughts in a whirl. _I need to get way stronger way faster…or else I'm dead._

-l-l-l-

**Author's Note:** Well, after reading many people guessing about the Search for Tsunade Arc, I have to ask: who saw THIS coming? Anyway, next chapter will really start to get the ball rolling with Naruto's abilities and him joining the real world. Thanks to everyone for the reviews, and please let me know what you thought in another one; what you guys say sometimes gives me ideas for situations/scenarios to include in the story!

Also, in case anyone asks why Zetsu doesn't know Kisame/Itachi but he knows people like Jiraiya/Tsunade/Chiyo/Sasori, it's because the latter group became famous while Zetsu was still in Kusa, whereas the former two became infamous after he left. And the only people Zetsu "cares" about nowadays are those he's going to eat.


End file.
